Unknown

qualitative determination for the presence of salicylates was rapidly performed in the emergency department by adding a few drops of 10% ferric chloride (FeCl3) to 1 mL of urine. If salicylates are present, the solution changes to a brown/purple color. Positive results with the urine ferric chloride test only indicate that a salicylate is present; however, even very small amounts of a salicylate, such as a single ingested aspirin tablet, can give a positive test result. Most emergency departments no longer perform this test and instead obtain a plasma salicylate level because these results are now rapidly available from almost all hospital laboratories and are much more useful clinically.