Urine Output Measurement by a Novel Electronic Urinometer is much more Accurate than by Conventional Urinometer

Abstract

Introduction: Assessment of urine output in hospitalized patients or those undergoing complex surgery is essential for preventing Acute Kidney Injury and increased mortality. Currently, measurements of urine output are made by visually inspecting the volume of urine that accumulates in a bag attached to a catheter which resides in the bladder by way of a manual urinometer. Several electronic urinometers have been tested but have not been clinically proven or accepted. We report preliminary results of a novel Electronic Urinometer (EU) and compared its accuracy to a conventional Manual Urinometer (MU). Methods: The study included 22 consecutive ICU patients whose urine output was collected with a foley catheter. Urine output was measured for all patients by EU as well as by MU. Both measurements were compared to analysis of the volume in a Graduated Cylinder (GC). Results: The EU was highly accurate in measurement of both urine volume and urine flow with an average deviation from GC 4 ± 3.0% vs 17 ± 23% for the MU (P<0.01). Conclusion: This study showed that measuring urine output in ICU patients by an EU is more accurate than conventional MU.