At-Home Testing: Steps for Collecting a Urine Sample

With ixlayer’s at-home testing solutions, you can improve healthcare access while delivering a simple and consumer-friendly experience under your own brand.

ixlayer’s team of user experience, medical, and health education experts will ensure you deliver a clear, supportive member journey that includes: easy-to-understand language woven through the process of ordering, preparation for testing, sample collection, shipping samples to the lab, and receiving results.

The at-home tests offered by ixlayer include self-collected samples, which differ in required sample type depending on the test. For different tests, the customer may be asked to provide a small blood sample, urine sample, stool sample, saliva sample, or swab that is rubbed on the cheek, skin, or genitals. To help you understand what your member’s journey will be like, follow along through the process of a test that requires a urine sample.

Why might my members need to collect urine?

Urine can provide important information about health and the function of many of our organs and body systems. A urine test, also called a urinalysis, can be used to detect and manage a wide range of conditions, including kidney disease, diabetes, urinary tract infections, and sexually transmitted infections (STIs).

For a urine collection, the step-by-step instructions for your members are as follows:

Activate kit

You will activate your kit by visiting a url unique to the testing program you’re participating in. Follow the simple instructions on the screen, ensuring you have your test kit nearby and ready.

Complete information

Next, you’ll print your first name and last name on the line above PARTICIPANT NAME on the urine collection tube. It’s encouraged to print legibly and be sure to use the same name you used to activate your kit. This is an important step also, as it allows the lab to connect your sample to your account.

Prepare hands

Then wash your hands with soap and warm water and dry thoroughly with an unused paper towel or clean hand towel. You are now ready to collect your urine sample.

Collect urine sample

Begin by collecting a urine sample in a large collection container, which you will then pour into the small sample tube you labeled with your first and last name. To collect your urine sample, begin urinating in the toilet. Midstream, move the large collection cup between your legs and under your urethra (the opening where urine comes out). Continue to urinate directly into the large collection cup until it reaches the fill line on the collection cup, which is approximately 6 teaspoons of urine. You do not want to fill the collection completely. If you are not done urinating but have collected the desired amount of urine already, move the collection cup out from between your legs and finish emptying your bladder in the toilet bowl. 

Transfer urine

Next, you are going to transfer a small amount of the urine you collected in the large collection cup into the sample collection tube you labeled with your first and last name earlier. Begin by removing the yellow cap from the collection tube, being careful to not touch the inside of the tube or cup. Slowly pour the urine from the large collection cup into the sample collection tube until the urine volume reaches the marked line. Twist the cap back onto the small collection tube tightly. Use toilet paper to wipe the outside of the collection tube to remove any excess urine. Discard the large collection cup.

Package sample

A special bag was included in your test kit called the specimen bag. This bag is labeled to indicate the type of sample inside and give instructions to the lab on how to safely handle the sample. It is important to use this bag when returning your test sample to the lab. You will place the tightly closed, labeled sample collection tube into the specimen bag with the absorbent pad. Then firmly press across the top of the bag to seal it.

Mail sample 

Place the tightly sealed urine specimen bag into the box that came in your test kit. If you collected samples for other tests, you can place them into the box in their unique specimen bag(s) too. It is important that you do not put multiple samples into a specimen bag unless instructed to in the directions for a particular test. Each sample is placed into its own specimen bag and sealed tightly before being put in the box together and shipped together to the lab. Your samples need to be shipped within 24 hours of sample collection, so place the box into the prepaid shipping mailer that came in your kit and drop it off at a USPS shipping location or visit usps.com/ship to schedule a pickup from your home or workplace within 24 hours. Make sure you note the tracking number that is listed on the shipping label so you can track your shipment by visiting usps.com and providing that tracking number to get updates on the status or location of your sample(s).

How can I find out more about partnering with ixlayer to offer configurable, at-home health testing to my members?

In partnership with ixlayer, your members will receive test instructions with consumer-friendly visuals and understandable results explanations, plus health education and suggested actionable next steps to improve their current health and/or protect their future health once their lab results are ready. Let’s connect and discuss what combination of at-home health tests you’d like to start offering under your brand.