Urine Dipstick for Protein (Nursing)

00:00 So protein in your urine, which is much easier to say than albuminuria.

00:05 It's a sign of kidney disease.

00:07 Hope that's solid in your brain now so we can do a dipstick that isn't that a funny word because dipstick is usually not a term of endearment.

00:16 But here we're actually talking about a strip that has chemicals on it and you dip it in urine.

00:24 That's what a dipstick is when we're talking about it here.

00:27 So you see our bottle you see those strips, you see a urine sample in the background, actually looking pretty nice are right there fairly hydrated.

00:35 It looks like it's pretty clear.

00:37 Nice color yellow.

00:38 We're good to go.

00:40 Everything looks fine but then you put that dipstick in, you dry it off, and you read it.

00:46 What do you think a two plus urine means on a standard dipstick? Okay that lets us know we've got protein positive in the urine.

01:00 Now you can see on the bottle, there you have a label and you've got the different colors as they go along you hold the strip up to the bottle and you compare which color is closest to the key on the bottle and that will give you the reading.

01:14 Now this is can be done anywhere, obviously because it's all you can do it at home even with a dipstick and a bottle but most often in a clinical setting they will do a dipstick but they'll read it with a machine.

01:25 Okay so now you know what 2+ urine means on a standard urine dipstick that means they've got protein present in their urine.

01:33 Okay so now we've established what a urine dipstick is.

01:37 It's just hard for me to say that word and keep a straight face because like I said in my circle of friends dipstick is not a term of endearment, but let's be serious.

01:48 We're talking about the clinical application here.

01:51 So a urine dipstick is very specific for albumin or protein but it's not extremely sensitive to low levels of albumin.

02:01 Now next to your notes right there to low levels of albumin, I want you to write the word micro, M-I-C-R-O.

02:10 That means tiny.

02:12 So if you have microalbuminuria, I mean, you've got really small amounts of protein in your urine more than we probably want you have, because protein should stay in your blood but it's not enough to be picked up by the dipstick.

02:30 See the protein in your urine has to be about 10 to 20 before it'll be detectable by a dipstick.

02:36 So dipstick grading goes from - to 4+ it's impacted by urine concentration.

02:43 So if that urine is highly concentrated means one first of all, my nose goes it's probably a really stinky, because you have less water, right? The patient is dehydrated, they put out a sample that is darker, you know that it's highly concentrated.

03:01 So that could also throw off the reading.

03:04 This is just a great test to use but not as amazing as a 24-hour urine collection for protein.

03:11 So why don't we just do a 24-hour collection? Well, I think you know the answer to that if you've watched the rest of our video series.

03:18 So way more complicated and cumbersome to do a 24-hour urine collection.

03:23 You got to keep it refrigerated versus this urine dipstick for protein, you get a sample you dip the stick.

03:29 We're good to go.

03:30 It's much easier and faster.

03:32 It's just not as specific, if this comes back positive and the doctor wants a follow-up and we may order a 24-hour urine collection so we can have a really accurate description of their protein in their urine.