An assessment of the usefulness of dip slides in a children's hospital.

The introduction of the dip inoculum technique has made possible the immediate culture of urines which in the normal way might take a number of hours to reach the laboratory. We have used this technique in conjunction with conventional methods of culture to try to ascertain whether the delay in transit normally encountered in this hospital affects materially the clinical significance of the results. We have not been able to demonstrate any advantage in the dip inoculum technique in the circumstances in which we have used it in the present study.