Measurement and Modification of the Accuracy of Determinations of Urine Glucose Concentration

Studies were designed to assess the accuracy of urine glucose testing in a sample of juvenile diabetic subjects, and to determine the effects of a visual discrimination training procedure on the accuracy. In the first study, each of 81 juvenile-diabetic children was presented three prepared glucose solutions and asked to determine the glucose concentration using the 2-Drop Clinitest method. Results showed errors in 54.3% of the judgments, with greatest difficulty occurring with 1-g/dl concentrations. The majority of errors were false negatives. Study II involved similar testing accuracy on a sample of 10 nurses and 2 research technicians, before and after a visual discrimination training procedure. Results showed that the subjects were incorrect on 39% of the trials initially, with a reduction in the error rate to less than 19% after training.