Ace the Illinois CNA State Exam 2025 – Shine Bright and Care with Confidence!

Ensuring that the resident has an empty bladder before starting a 24-hour urine specimen collection is essential for obtaining accurate results. The collection process begins with the resident completely emptying their bladder to establish a baseline, which eliminates any residual urine that might be present from before the collection period. This initial step helps ensure that only urine produced during the specified 24-hour period is collected, providing a clear and correct representation of the resident's urinary output and any substances excreted during that time.

Other actions, such as giving the resident a full glass of water, might be part of the overall procedure but do not address the critical need to initialize the collection with an empty bladder. Labeling the specimen container and providing a clean specimen cup are important for the organization and integrity of the sample, but they do not interfere with the actual initial step of starting the collection correctly, which is to clear the bladder. Properly following the sequence of these tasks is crucial for the reliability of the test results.