• Martin Slettengren, Hanna Wetterfall, Anton Eklund, and Jan van der Linden.
• Division of Perioperative Medicine and Intensive Care, Section of Cardiothoracic Anesthesiology and Intensive Care, Karolinska University Hospital, Stockholm, Sweden.
• Pediatr Crit Care Me. 2019 Aug 1; 20 (8): 769-772.

ObjectivesTo compare a modified capacitance-based automatic urinometer to a manual urinometer, with regard to precision of measurement and to evaluate the staff's opinion regarding the automatic urinometer.DesignProspective observational cohort study.SettingPICU at Astrid Lindgren's Children Hospital in Solna, Sweden.PatientsTwelve children weighing up to 10 kg with an indwelling urinary catheter in place before enrollment.InterventionsMeasurement of hourly diuresis using either an automatic urinometer or manual urinometer.Measurements And Main ResultsHourly diuresis was measured with an automatic urinometer (n = 127; Sippi; Observe Medical Nordic AB, Gothenburg, Sweden) or an manual urinometer (n = 83; Unometer Safeti Plus; Convatec, Lejre, Denmark) and thereafter validated with a measuring cylinder. The absolute mean bias was -1.1 mL for the automatic urinometer (CI, -0.6 to -1.5) and -0.6 mL (CI, ± 0.0 to -1.2) for the manual urinometer (p = 0.21). The SDs were 2.6 and 2.8 mL, respectively. User evaluation comparing the automatic urinometer with the manual urinometer concerning the ease of use was made with a questionnaire (n = 18). The majority of staff preferred the automatic urinometer to the manual urinometer in terms of ease of use, learning, and handling.ConclusionsThe two urinometers were comparable in performance for children weighing up to 10 kg. Taking into account the overwhelming staff satisfaction with the automatic urinometer and benefits in less well-staffed wards as well as lack of temporal deviation, the modified automatic urinometer may be considered for clinical use in the PICU.

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