ABSTRACT
The "routine" urinalysis has become a part of the practice of clinical medicine and is widely used in a variety of situations. It may readily be envisioned as one of the most popular of all clinical laboratory tests. The use of routine urine examination has extended to many areas where a type of "routine" urine study is used, including physician office laboratories, emergency laboratories, research laboratories, patient usage situations, and as a part of the great variety of "health" examinations which are being carried out on an increasing scale. The impressive homeostatic capabilities of the body, particularly of the kidney, can effect changes in urine at a time when blood composition is not altered to a significant extent. Routine urine study has a number of advantages. No preparation of the patient or the specimen is required. Multiple specimen collection and testing is readily accomplished. A very wide span of information is established which relates to many organ systems.
