Lets Automate Urine Microscopy

Automated urinalysis is not restricted to larger high-throughput labs.  Smaller hospital labs will also benefit. Labs utilizing automated urinalysis produce digital reports which is less time-consuming and less prone to clerical or typo errors. Clinicians also often appreciate the quantitative report and precise cut-offs established by the lab for their patient population when making treatment decisions, as opposed to the qualitative or semi-quantitative 0, 1+, 2+ system often used for dipsticks and manual microscopy.

Automated urinalysis offers the benefits of convenience, efficiency, and increased sensitivity for detecting renal and urinary tract abnormalities. The true value may lie in the ability to efficiently screen and report out urine samples that lack pathologic findings.  Generally, at a large clinical lab, up to 70% of urine samples can thus be screened and reported without the need for a confirmatory manual microscopy, saving a considerable amount of time and labor. Automated sediment analyzers have comparable performance characteristics with improved standardization over manual microscopy.