Automated Urine Analysis

The Microbiology Department at St James’s Hospital in Dublin processes almost 500,000 samples a year, and has recently introduced a PREVI™ Isola and a UF-1000i to semi¬-automate its urinalysis services. Niamh Murphy, Senior Medical Scientist in the department, explained: “Urine analysis is one of the most commonly performed tasks in the laboratory. Manually processing these samples takes considerable time and requires the skills of a dedicated medical scientist, and so we looked into ways of automating various aspects of the workflow. We were impressed with the PREVI Isola for automated urine culture streaking – due to its ease of use and the improved culture consistency it offered – and wanted a front-end urine analyser that would complement this platform. Although switching to flow cytometry was a big change to our working practices, we were confident that the UF¬-1000i offered the sensitivity and specificity we needed. It is straightforward to use, and bioMérieux provided good on-site training.”

Helen Barry, Laboratory Manager, added: “Automation is now a key component of clinical microbiology services, so it is vital that we have knowledgeable, reliable partners who are able to offer both the technology and technical support we require to ensure we can provide for the needs of our patients. We have been working with bioMérieux since 2004, and have developed a good relationship with the Company; we have always been very happy with the service and support we receive.”