Student Internship Programme (SIP) HAEM

Are you surprised that haematology department also performs urinalysis? I hope you do, because I, for one, certainly did. The difference between the urine examinations in various departments lies mainly with the type of tool used for analysis. The principles are similar in that common findings such as RBCs, WBCs, epithelial cells (EC) are counted and reported. Kova glasstic 10 has 10 chambers[able to charge 10 different urine samples] and in each of the chamber, there lies 81 small grids.

Name of Test: Urine microscope examination using Kova glasstic 10 with grid slide

Principle of Test: Undiluted and uncentrifuged urine is drawn into the Kova slide 10 chamber for microscopic examination and identification

Type of Specimen: "Early morning" or random urine, midstream clean catch samples

[Morning-voided sample preferred as it is more concentrated than random samples during the day as urine could be diluted due to increased fluid consumption; giving false picture of a patient's health]

Procedures[FYI]:

1. Check that name on form tally with sample.

2. Assign a lab number and stamp for WBC, RBC, EC grid on request form.

3. Mix urine thoroughly by swirling several times before opening.

4. Record the appearance(colour/turbidity) of sample.

5. Charge 9µl urine on the Kova glasstic slide chamber.

6. By capillary action, 6.6µl of the urine will be drawn into the chamber resulting in a homogenous suspension of the sediment. (you may ask how, but there is a tiny compartment under the chamber where excess urine goes and only the stipulated amount of urine will be held in the chamber)

7. Allow 10 minutes for the cells to settle. (as urine continues to flow within the chamber)

8. Examine for urinary sediments and quantitate casts/crystals at low power 100x

9. Quantitate all cells at high power 400x. Count the cells within the lines of the small 0.33mm square grid.

a) For low cell count sample: count the total cells of each specific type contained in 36 small grids of the counting grid. Write the values beside the stamp 'WBC', 'RBC' and EC accordingly and write 36 beside the stamp grid.

b) For high cell count sample: count the total cells of each specific type contained in 10 small grids of the counting grid. Write the values beside the stamp 'WBC', 'RBC' and EC accordingly and write 10 beside the stamp grid.
c) For very high cell count sample: count the total cells of each specific type contained in 1 small grid. Write the values beside the stamp 'WBC', 'RBC' and EC accordingly and write 1 beside the stamp grid.

10. Enter the reported values and the LIS system will compute the resules and convert the values to per µl.

11. Transfer the computed values to the request form on the appropriate space.

Reference ranges:

WBC: 0-6/ µl

RBC: 0-3/ µl

-Alex Tan Tg02 0503222B