The Fritsma Factor newsletter arrived today. As always it is a very useful source of CPD…
This is (supposed to be) a reflective diary by a (not very) anonymous biomedical scientist who works somewhere in the south of England. One day this diary may well be submitted to the Health and Care Professions Council as evidence of ongoing continual professional development....
6 April 2026 (Monday) - Granulocyte Transfusions
Granulocyte transfusions – good or bad? I’d never experienced them in
practice until a few years ago…
It would seem that the jury is still out on their efficacity
It would seem that the jury is still out on their efficacity
5 April 2026 (Sunday) - Pay Attention (!)
Look closely in a blood film – it’s easy to overlook the early signs…
2 April 2026 (Thursday) - NEQAS 2602 BF
I got the results of NEQAS morphology survey 2602BF today…
2602BF1 I said:
Hypochromia (consensus 4th)
Target cells (consensus 1st)
Large plts (consensus 2nd)
Neutropenia (consensus 14th)
I wrote “? thal ? SC disease”. The expert opinion
said: “These features are all suggestive
of Hb SC disease and this was confirmed on HPLC though the degree of
microcytosis should lead to the consideration of a coexistent alpha thalassemia
trait”
2602BF2 I said:
Hypochromia (consensus 1st)
Microcytosis (consensus 2nd)
Pencil cells (consensus 3rd)
Tear drop cells (consensus 5th)
^ plts (consensus 4th)
I thought this was a case of iron deficiency. It was.
31 March 2026 (Tuesday) - IBMS Update
The IBMS sent their update today – you can read it by
clicking here. I must admit I’m quite a critic of the IBMS but this was one
of their better offerings.
I did like the article about infections in feature films… I was reminded
of an episode nearly thirty years ago when I wrote to the BBC. A rather poor
doctor in the TV show “Casualty” was
told that they would be lucky to end up in a path lab. The BBC replied saying
that they were sorry for any offence caused, and they acknowledged that the
average path lab worked is educated to postgraduate standards. But what they
were striving for was dramatic effect.
Nothing has changed in the meantime…
30 March 2026 (Monday) - AML
Back in the day we’d just judge on what we saw down the microscope. Didn’t
I comment on that the other day?
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