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....
The
nice people at Lablogatory sent a case study today. You can read it by
clicking here. Back in the day we would have described it as aleukaemic
leukaemia.
It
is one of those cases of acute leukaemia in which the white cell count *doesn’t* go through the roof. Something
to bear in mind when you see iffy looking cells. Just because the white cell
count isn’t ten times what you might expect doesn’t mean it isn’t leukaemia..
I did some e-learning today. I started with a refresher on the use of anti-D in the midwifery setting. A refresher is always good… and then I did a refresher on GMP…
Perhaps
I wasn't in the best of frames of mind when I did this... Don't get me wrong -
I fully understand the need for audit and documentation and control of what
goes on in labs. However is it necessary to labour the point in such pedantic
and petty detail? Does an encyclopaedic knowledge and recall of which
regulatory body does what actually improve what goes on in the labs?
I
think the relevance of the stuff is summed up when I say that I really don’t
know what the acronym GMP stands for.
More
and more I'm coming to the conclusion that it will very soon be time for me to
retire...
The
nice people at the American Society of Hematology sent their update today.
Focussing on myeloma it was rather clinical in outlook, but it is all useful
stuff…
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The
IBMS sent
their newsletter today. I mention it because I feel I should mention my professional
body, and because it is they who will pass judgement on how good (or not!) I am doing with recording my
CPD.
However…
I
do feel (rather strongly) that as far
as CPD goes I have (yet again) been
let down by them. Again the newsletter is very light on anything practical;
preferring to focus on people. I suppose that the IBMS Newsletter is only as
good as the articles they get sent. I *really*
should stop grumbling about it and start contributing…
Two
months ago I looked at the NEQAS parasitology blood film CPD. Today I finally
got to see the result.
At
the time I saw:
|
2102 PA1 No
parasites seen (100) |
2102 PA2 Microfilaria (105) |
I
got both correct.
Two
months ago I looked at the NEQAS blood film CPD. Today I finally got to see the
result.
At
the time I saw:
|
2103BF1 Sickle
cells (013) Target
cells (010) NRBCs (022) Polychromasia (005) Fragments (012) ? sickle
cell crisis |
2103 BF2 Target
cells (010) Howell-Jolly
bodies (020) Macrocytosis (003) Spherocytes (016) Fragments (012) ?? post
splenectomy (poor film) |
The
top ten features (and diagnosis) were
|
2103BF1 Sickle
cells (013) NRBCs (022) Polychromasia (005) Howell-Jolly
bodies (020) Target
cells (010) Fragments
came in at #8 This was
indeed a case of sickle cell crisis |
2103 BF2 Howell-Jolly
bodies (020) Target
cells (010) NRBCs (022) Hypochromia Macrocytosis (003) Fragments
came in at #7 and spherocytes at #10 This was
a post splenectomy case. No mention was made of the poor film quality though. |
I’ll
take that as having got it right…
