Routine urine microscopy and culture in paediatric surgical outpatients: is it necessary?

Abstract

Midstream urine culture has been the gold standard for diagnosing a urinary tract infection. But sample collection in children can be time-consuming and frustrating. In our department, a urine sample is routinely collected by the nursing staff prior to the outpatient consultation. We therefore reviewed our practice with respect to correlation with symptoms, change in management occurring as a result of the culture, and financial implications. Case notes of 109 children attending paediatric nephrourology clinics over a three-month period were retrospectively reviewed. Data collected included underlying diagnosis, symptomatology, urine culture results at current and previous outpatient visits, and change in management that occurred as a direct result of the culture. A pure growth of >10⁵ colony-forming units/ml was considered to be a positive result. Of 783 urine samples, only 23 were positive in 15 patients, nine of which required change in management. All of these nine patients were symptomatic at or just preceding the clinic visit. None of the remaining patients in the group had symptoms of a urinary tract infection at the time of the outpatient visit. Change in management therefore occurred in 8.3% of patients, all symptomatic, based on the results of 1.1% of urine samples. At a cost of £3.00 per sample during working hours, the cost of processing 783 samples was £2349.00. We conclude that urine samples from paediatric surgical outpatients should not be sent routinely unless the patients are symptomatic or a change in management is anticipated. Other techniques to screen for urine samples needing culture may be considered.