Collecting midstream specimens of urine--the research base.

The study reported here, which is based on an undergraduate dissertation, analyses the content of medical and nursing articles published between 1956 and 1989 which consider the collection of mid-stream specimens of urine (MSSUs). Subjective or qualitative and objective or quantitative content analyses were performed. A large disparity was discovered between the results of the two methods of analysis, implying that this research base cannot be translated into recommendations for collecting MSSUs.