Wheel... I think Bill's itemized list only contained a urinalysis. That is just usual protocol. A culture and sensitivity *has to be specifically ordered by a doctor*. Whether outside the hospital or inside the hospital. If I drop off a urine specimen at my doctor's office ... they will only do a urinalysis unless the doctor orders the culture and sensitivities. Further, they will not automatically these sensitivities unless it is firmly ordered. Laboratory technicians think they are superfluous if only such and such shows up on the culture. They take it upon themselves to do or not to do sensitivities. Which is wrong. They also get paid the same for doing extra so why bother to do the sensitivities which take another 48 hours -- some more than often often think.
John ... my goodness are you kidding? At first I thought you were being facetious and sarcastic but maybe not. Maybe you missed my post on the laissez-faire attitude of laboratory technicians. The real facts are --that they are supposed to meet very high standards but they don't! JCAHO only visits twice a year. Whooopie. They don't get results mixed up? I have lived in three different states and have had so many laboratory errors made that it is scary. Because my husband was once a chief lab technician... even back in the 70s he would see how lazy *his staff* would be and he put a stop to it when he saw it but that is not the norm! Since my husband is able to read laboratory results (be it urine or blood) ... he has caught so many mistakes. Blatant ones. Even some of my doctors have thanked him for pointing things out that they just overlooked and wrote out the wrong antibiotic for me *because of that.* Some of them even do something called "sink testing" which is more common than not. There is a reason it has a name -- they get lazy and dump samples down the sink. I kid you not. And there are telltale signs that only a laboratory technician or a chief laboratory technician would recognize that something is rotten in Denmark when certain results are this or that or do not come back for 10 days, etc.. I am not saying this because I want to disagree with you but because I have worked with doctors and nurses who also see it happen all the time as well. Perhaps you were being sarcastic however. Lori On Wed, Jul 2, 2008 at 11:02 AM, John S. <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > Yup, they use test strips and some have backup tests. The important part > is that you get a complete battery of tests performed fast and accurately. > These labs meet very high standards and don't get results mixed up. that has > to be worth $15. > > john > > ----- Original Message ---- > From: "[EMAIL PROTECTED]" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]; [email protected] > Sent: Tuesday, July 1, 2008 8:33:44 PM > Subject: Re: [QUAD-L] Urinalysis costs_Urine test strips > > I don't believe hospitals or labs do the dip test as much as they do > cultures and microscope inspection before releasing the information. I > don't believe the use the strips as you do. Strips don't tell you which > bacteria you have either. > > Am I wrong? > Best Wishes > > In a message dated 7/1/2008 6:50:07 P.M. Central Daylight Time, > [EMAIL PROTECTED] writes: > > > When I eventually found out by myself that the reason I was having so many > UTIs was because my urine pH level was always too high. It was always like > a 7.5 (too alkaline and great and friendly for bugs to grow) rather than a > preferred '6'. > Recently my husband had to make a big medical products order and he ordered > those urine test strips. We ordered a jar of 100 and they came out to be > $.28 apiece. They test 11 different things (nitrates, blood, pH level, etc. > etc. etc. etc.) and *is the same thing as a urinalysis*. > > At the time, my husband commented that labs charge around $30 for > urinalysis and Bill just showed us that his hospital bill charged $99 plus > dollars for a urinalysis! In real reality (not to be redundant) ... it only > costs about 10 or $.15 to dip one of those in urine. > > Medical system = highway robbery. > > Lori Michaelson > Age - 43 > C4/5 complete quad, 28 1/2 years post > Tucson, AZ > > > > > > ------------------------------ > Gas prices getting you down? Search AOL Autos for fuel-efficient used > cars<http://autos.aol.com/used?ncid=aolaut00050000000007> > . > > -- Lori C4/5 complete quad, 27 years post Tucson, AZ
