Blood film review by biomedical scientists

This study aims to provide evidence of biomedical scientists' competence in blood film cytomorphology and to improve continuing assessment and training. Twenty photomicrographs are prepared from historical teaching slides, and a slide projector timer is designed and built to trigger slide advance automatically every 30 sec. Haematology staff in local district general hospitals take part in the study. During each visit, the test is explained and participants mark their observations on individual results sheets. Two sets (accepted and rejected) of observations are generated, which are validated by peer review. The accepted set is scored. No evidence is found to prove that members of each department were drawn from separate groups (P=0.36). Seniors and routine cytomorphologists are compared for each department and a non-zero difference in score was found (P=0.00). A comparison is made between the number of times a scored or non-scored observation is recorded, resulting in a probability that approaches zero. Thus, it is highly unlikely that the observations are drawn from one pool, and the test score and ability in cytomorphology would appear to be directly related. This study challenges the notion that unrestricted time, clinical data and a microscope are required for haematology blood film cytomorphology tests. Introduction of this type of test would provide biomedical science with a valuable assessment tool.