April 5, 2011 (Tuesday) - Nucleated Red Cell Counts

Following on from last Thursday’s seminar, it struck me that if we request nucleated red cell counts on those samples likely to have nucleated red cells in their circulation, then we would (probably) get white cell differential counts in these cases. Thereby reducing the need for manual differentials in cases in which it is difficult to perform such differentials, and also speeding up the process.

Rule Table Definition Rule Code:ZHB1  Description: Haem - count with Hb-opathies                                                          If   %HLOC  EQ  WSCBU  AND %OC    CO  FB     AND %OC    NCO NRBC Then          ALERT Enter ALERT text Please add test NRBC to this request Confirm with f10 key [Y or N] : Y  Use as error : N  Else  CONT   Dialogue If Historical Location is EQUAL to "WSCBU" and Order Code does CONTAIN "FB"   and Order Code does NOT CONTAIN "NRBC" Then ALERT Else CONT

I therefore made a tweak to an existing rule. The idea is that the rule will now prompt the clerical staff to request an NRBC count when a child on the special baby care unit has a blood count done.

Ideally the rule would add the test automatically, but I can’t get that to work. Something for the future, maybe?