A nurse brought a urine specimen to the laboratory. Even though we have a paperless electronic system, the specimen came with a paper order that says “Hospitality” on it as the level of care.
Nothing too suspicious about it until we ran the sample. Urine dipstick came up with +3 Glucose and Trace Blood. Microscopically, we’ve noticed clumps of something that we were not able to identify, and a few bacteria, mainly cocci. Nothing too crazy coming from an elderly patient to be honest, but still rather suspicious because there was nothing else in it.
Since no official electronic order was placed, the results were relayed to the nurse who brought the sample. The nurse looked surprised when she heard the results.
“Is there anything weird about the sample?” The nurse said. Not knowing how to respond, the tech just repeated, “There is glucose and blood on the dip, and nothing microscopically except for some bacteria.
Later on, a couple nurses came into the lab and asked the same thing. Then, they finally confessed that it wasn’t a real sample! They added a bit of ketchup to a cup of apple juice just to prank us on Lab Week! The doctor even took part of the prank and signed the order. Everything looked legit!
I’m glad everything is now making sense. The glucose was obviously from the ketchup and apple juice. The trace blood could be from an interference substance that mimicked the peroxidase activity of blood. And the bacteria? The nurse should have washed her hands first. Not sure where she got the nasty ketchup or juice either!
We’re all glad the mystery was solved and everyone had a great laugh! Thanks to the nurses and the provider who made our day.
Submitted By:
Ian Tiu
Laboratory Manager
Iowa, USA
That’s funny 🤣 🤣 🤣
Great job
Emily , 
Ann and 
Madison for pulling this off!