How to collect your sample

This is a fingerstick, not a blood draw. The white tip on the device soaks up an exact, measured amount of blood all by itself — your only job is to give it a good clean drop to touch.

1. 1

   Label everything first

   Write the patient's full name, date of birth, and today's date and time on the device label and on the requisition form — before you collect anything.

   • An unlabelled or half-labelled sample cannot be tested and has to be re-collected.
2. 2

   Warm the hand and wash

   Wash both hands in warm soapy water for 30 seconds, rinse, and dry completely.

   • Warmth is the single biggest factor in getting a good drop. If the hands are cold, run them under warm water again or hold them under the arms for a minute.
   • Let the hand hang down at your side for about 30 seconds right before you stick — it lets blood pool in the fingertip.
3. 3

   Lay out the kit on a clean flat surface

   Open the pouch and set out the device, the lancet, the alcohol pad, the gauze, and the bandage where you can reach them one-handed.

   Do not touchNever touch the white tip with your fingers, and don't let it touch the table, the skin, or the inside of the bag. A tip that has been touched is contaminated and the sample will be rejected.
4. 4

   Clean the finger — then let it dry

   Wipe the side of the fingertip of the middle or ring finger on the non-dominant hand with the alcohol pad.

   Let it air dryWait until the alcohol has completely evaporated. Alcohol left on the skin breaks up the drop, so it will not form, and it contaminates the sample.
5. 5

   Lance the side of the fingertip

   Twist off the lancet cap. Press the lancet firmly and flat against the side of the fingertip — off to the side of the pad, not the middle — and press the trigger.

   • The side of the finger hurts less and bleeds better than the centre of the pad.
   • Each lancet fires once. Use a new lancet for a second stick.
6. 6

   Wipe away the first drop

   Blot the first drop away with the gauze and throw it out.

   • The first drop is mixed with tissue fluid from the stick and will skew the result.
7. 7

   Let a big round drop form

   Point the finger downward and let a large, well-rounded drop build up on the skin.

   • If flow is slow, massage gently from the base of the finger toward the tip and pause.
   • Do not squeeze or milk hard. Hard squeezing forces tissue fluid into the sample and breaks the red cells — the lab will have to reject it.
8. 8

   Touch the tip to the side of the drop

   Hold the device so the white tip just touches the side of the blood drop. The tip pulls the blood in by itself — you are not scooping, pressing, or scraping.

   Full tipKeep it in contact for about 2 more seconds after the tip has turned completely red. A full tip is uniformly red with no white left. A partly filled tip is not a smaller sample — it is an unusable one.
9. 9

   You get one tip — so finish the fill

   There is one tip in this kit. The whole test rides on this single fill, so do not lift the device away until the tip is completely red.

   • If the drop runs dry before the tip is full, leave the tip where it is, squeeze up a fresh drop on the same finger, and bring it straight back to the tip. Topping up from a second drop is fine as long as you do it right away.
   • If the flow stops completely, lance a different finger and finish the fill from that drop.
   • If the tip gets dropped or touched, or you end up with a tip that is only part red, stop and call us for a replacement kit — do not mail it. A re-collect costs you nothing; a rejected sample costs you a week.
10. 10

    Dry it flat for at least 2 hours

    Snap the device back into its holder and set it down flat, in the open, at room temperature, with nothing touching the tips. Leave it for a minimum of 2 hours.

    No shortcutsDo not use a hair dryer, an oven, a heater, direct sunlight, the fridge or the freezer to speed this up. Heat and cold both destroy the sample. Bandage the finger while you wait.
11. 11

    Pack it dry

    Once dry, put the device in the foil pouch with the desiccant pack, seal it, and place it in the biohazard bag with the signed requisition in the outer pocket.

    • The desiccant must go in the pouch. Without it the sample can re-absorb moisture in the mail.
12. 12

    Mail it back the same or next business day

    Seal the prepaid return mailer and drop it off. Keep it at room temperature until it goes out — never refrigerate a dried sample.

    • If you finish drying on a Friday evening, hold it at room temperature and mail it Monday rather than letting it sit in a weekend depot.

You urinate in the cup, close it, and the tube fills itself off the port in the lid. There is nothing to pour and nothing to open once the lid is on.

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Illustrations of the technique — your kit's parts may look slightly different.

1. 1

   Label the tubes, not just the cup

   Write the patient's full name, date of birth, and the date and time of collection on each transfer tube and on the requisition.

   • The cup gets thrown away — only the labelled tube reaches the lab. An unlabelled tube cannot be tested.
2. 2

   Wash your hands and open the cup last

   Wash and dry your hands. Leave the cup sealed until the moment you are ready to go.

   Keep it sterileDo not touch the inside of the cup or the inside of the lid, and do not set the lid face-down.
3. 3

   Collect the specimen

   Urinate directly into the cup and fill it at least to the fill line (about 30 mL).

   • More is better than less — the tubes need enough volume to draw, and a short sample means a re-collect.
   • If your provider ordered a clean-catch midstream: cleanse first with the wipe, start the stream into the toilet, then move the cup into the stream and collect the middle portion.
4. 4

   Screw the lid on straight and tight

   Put the lid on square and turn it until it stops.

   This is what makes the transfer workThe vacuum tube can only draw against a sealed cup. A lid that is on crooked or only finger-tight will leak, and the tube will not fill.
5. 5

   Read the temperature strip within 4 minutes

   If your cup has a temperature strip on the side, read it within 4 minutes of collecting and record the reading on the requisition. It should fall in the 90–100°F window.

   • If your kit has no strip, skip this step.
6. 6

   Press the tube straight down onto the port

   Stand the cup on a flat surface. Hold the tube upright and push it straight down onto the transfer port in the centre of the lid until the stopper is pierced. The vacuum starts drawing on its own.

   Straight down, onceDo not angle the tube, and do not push it in and out. Once a tube has lost its vacuum it will never fill — you would need a new tube.
7. 7

   Wait for the flow to stop by itself

   Hold the tube in place until urine stops flowing, then lift it straight up and off.

   • Tubes are designed to stop short of full. A tube that stops with an air gap at the top is correct — do not try to top it up.
8. 8

   Invert gently if the tube has preservative

   If the tube contains preservative (a coloured stopper with powder or liquid in the bottom), invert it gently 8 to 10 times end over end.

   Do not shakeShaking foams the sample and can interfere with the analysis. Slow, end-over-end inversions only.
9. 9

   Fill every tube in the kit

   Repeat for each tube supplied. Different tubes go to different parts of the lab, so a missing tube means a missing result.

   • Leave the cup lid on after transferring. Do not open the cup again.
10. 10

    Bag it and mail it back

    Put the tubes in the biohazard bag with the absorbent sheet, slide the signed requisition into the outer pocket, and seal it in the prepaid return mailer.

    • Ship the same or next business day.
    • If it cannot go out until the next day, refrigerate the tubes — do not freeze them. Preservative tubes can stay at room temperature; follow the insert that came with your kit.