Urine specimen collection with external devices for diagnosis of bacteriuria in elderly incontinent men

We determined the validity of using external devices for urine specimen collection from 24 elderly incontinent men residing in a nursing home by collecting three sequential specimens, two with external devices and then one by catheterization. The positive predictive value of organisms isolated in quantitative counts of greater than or equal to 10(5) CFU/ml in external devices for bladder bacteriuria was 86% for either sterile or clean collecting devices and 93% for the same organism in two consecutive specimens. The negative predictive value for organisms present in quantitative counts of less than 10(5) CFU/ml was 90% for both sterile and clean devices and 86% when the organism was present in both specimens. Contamination in external collection devices was not influenced by whether the device was clean or sterile, circumcision of the resident, or duration of time between device application and specimen collection. These data suggest that urine specimens collected by ward nursing staff with external devices are reliable for the diagnosis of bacteriuria in this patient population.