Innovations in Worksite Diagnosis of Urinary Tract Infections and the Occupational Health Nurse

Occupational health nurses play a key role in evaluating innovative technologies that can aid in providing safe and rapid care and reduce lost work time. A nurse-led employee health clinic participated in a validation study of a novel pathogen detection technique developed by GeneCapture, Inc. Their proposed portable urinary tract infection (UTI) in vitro diagnostic test was challenged with discarded, deidentified urine samples from patients presenting with typical UTI symptoms collected at two university clinics and two multiphysician practices. GeneCapture's panel for this study was designed to rapidly identify the genetic signature of seven organisms: gram-negative Escherichia coli, Klebsiella pneumoniae, Proteus mirabilis, and Pseudomonas aeruginosa; gram-positive Enterococcus faecalis and Staphylococcus aureus; and fungal Candida species. The results from 40 clinical samples were in 95% agreement (90% specificity, 100% sensitivity) with traditional urine culture results from routine analysis. This successful occupational health nursing collaboration and validation study shows promise for point-of-care diagnoses and earlier treatment for workers with UTIs.