Urine Culture: How It Is Done

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How It Is Done

You will be asked to collect a clean-catch midstream urine sample for testing. The first urine of the day is preferred because bacterial levels will be higher.

Clean-catch midstream urine collection

This method helps protect the urine sample from germs that are normally found on the penis or vagina.

• Wash your hands before collecting the urine.
• If the collection container has a lid, remove it carefully and set it down with the inner surface up.
• Clean the area around your penis or vagina.
  • A man should retract the foreskin, if present, and clean the head of his penis thoroughly with medicated towelettes or swabs.
  • A woman should spread open the folds of skin around her vagina with one hand, then use her other hand to clean the area around her vagina and urethra thoroughly with medicated towelettes or swabs. She should wipe the area from front to back to avoid spreading bacteria to the vagina that is normally found around the anus.
• Begin urinating into the toilet or urinal. A woman should continue holding apart the folds of skin around the vagina while she is urinating.
• After the urine has flowed for several seconds, place the collection container in the stream and collect about of this "midstream" urine without stopping the flow.
• Do not touch the rim of the container to your genital area.
• Do not get toilet paper, hair, feces, or menstrual blood in the urine sample.
• Finish urinating into the toilet or urinal.
• Carefully replace the lid on the container. Wash your hands. Return the urine sample to the lab. If you are collecting the urine at home and cannot get it to the lab within an hour, refrigerate the sample. It can be refrigerated for up to 24 hours. Follow the instructions from your lab.

Last updated:	June 05, 2008
Author:	Maria G. Essig, MS, ELS
Reviewed By:	Kathleen Romito, MD - Family Medicine, W. David Colby IV, MSc, MD, FRCPC - Infectious Disease
Editors:	Susan Van Houten, RN, BSN, MBA, Tracy Landauer