Question

1. Robertson is a 35‑year‑old male with a family history of kidney stones. Because Robertson reports that he has been experiencing pain in his back and intense pain spasms in his groin, the physician wants to test him for stones. The physician informs Robertson that he needs to collect his urine over a 24‑hour period. This instruction puzzles and annoys Robertson, and he wants to know why it is necessary. As a medical assistant, how do you explain the 24‑hour urine specimen to Robertson?

Answer 1

As a medical assistant the 24 hour urine specimen collection can be explained in the following way

• It is one of the non invasive diagnostic test to ruke out the renal stones
• Here a 24 hour urine collection can exactly determine the presence of any salts like calcium, oxalate, uric acid ,etc which causes the renal stone
• Here the collection has to be started from the early morning. First urine has to be discarded. Then the following urine has to be collected till the next day (for example if started to collect urine from 6am, it will end by 6am the next day)
• Support the patient psychologically that it is a simple procedure
• Clarify all the doubts in the language the patient understands in a lay man term