Urinary Tract Infection - Quality Assurance and Control

Running head: URINARY TRACT INFECTION
URINARY TRACT INFECTION
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URINARY TRACT INFECTION 1
Quality assurance and quality control and its importance
Quality assurance and quality control in the microbiological context refers to the control
of errors and accuracy of results in the performance of tests which can be achieved by
maintaining and controlling the quality following a set of standard operating procedures (SOPs).
These standards include guidelines or principles to facilitate an effective and accurate
performance of tests without any error (Who.int 2020). The responsibility of quality analyst is
thus to monitor that the laboratory facilitates an air conditioned and dust free environment, all the
technical personal and the supervisors are well qualified and have adequate skills, knowledge
and expertise and the laboratory must take part in both external and internal quality assurance
schemes (Scherz, Durussel and Greub 2017).
Patient’s clinical history
As per the case study, an 18 year old patient was presented to the General Practitioner
(GP) with a two day history of urinary urgency with an increased frequency. Furthermore, she
has been experiencing dysuria and fatigue more recently. Also, her urine is turbid and foul-
smelling. However, she encountered no vaginal discharge. Thus, from these above symptoms, it
is evident that the patient might be suffering from Urinary Tract Infection (UTI). Patients with
UTI generally have medical history of previous UTI, a family history of UTI and other comorbid
conditions like diabetes and kidney disorders, however, no such medical history has been
observed in the case study. The patient, conversely, on enquiry stated that she has become
sexually active recently with a partner and took protection with condoms having spermicide as
contraception. Studies have shown that sexual intercourse using spermicide coated condoms

URINARY TRACT INFECTION 2
increases the risk of UTI among women. This is because sexual intercourse and spermicide
exposure are significant risk factors for UTI. The common symptoms for UTI include urinary
urgency and frequency, dysuria and fatigue which were evident in the 18 year old patient.
Patient’s risk factors
The patient was sexually active with a partner recently which might have contributed to
an increased risk for UTI. Spermicide used as a method of contraception are significant risk
factors for developing UTI. The risk of UTI increases with more frequent use of spermicide
coated condoms and thus, the patient in the case study is an increasing risk for UTI which she
was suspected with (Bergamin and Kiosoglous 2017). Also, young women who are sexually
active are at risk for developing Urinary tract infection (Mohiuddin 2019). There are a numerous
risk factors for UTI, however, the case study does not provide such information on the patient’s
medical and social history. Thus, it is difficult to interpret the exact risk factors for her current
condition. Therefore, the risk factors for this patient are being sexually active and using
spermicide condoms as contraception (Storme et al. 2019).
Principles of each laboratory results
Urine specimen of the patient was collected for conducting urine test. A urine dipstick
test has been performed to detect nitrites and leukocyte esterase for urinalysis. Generally, in
healthy people, both leukocyte esterase and urine nitrite test results are negative. However,
negative test results of nitrite do not indicate that the urine is free from bacteria, provided there
are clinical symptoms since there are many bacteria that do not produce nitrites. The presence of
leukocyte esterase in the urine indicates the presence of white blood cells. However, this test is