Brittany Tatum
Develop and Administer a Competency
Test for WBC and RBC Differentials
SchoolTrinity High School • Garfield Heights, Ohio
ProgramMedical Laboratory Internship
MentorMark Ouellette
Department
Broadview Heights Medical Center Laboratory,
Marymount Hospital
- Research
- Develop and Administer a Competency Test for WBC and RBC Differentials
- Hypothesis
- The College of American Pathologists (CAP) requires laboratories to assess the competence of technologists performing a differential. This project was an effort to design an improved method to assess individual competence. The hypothesis is that a better method for accessing differential competency could be developed.
- Methodology
- 25 photographs at 100X magnification of consecutive WBCs were examined. The technicians were asked to note any WBC/RBC inclusions they saw and describe the RBC morphology. CBC results, and in some cases, auto-differential data were provided to assist them.
- Outcomes
- The new method for accessing competency was better than previously used methods because the process mirrors the process used by the technologist to perform differentials. With 25 photographs to view, the tech can more easily judge cells by the company they keep; the results allow the technologist and their supervisor to determine what specifically is being done well and what needs to be improved. The drill down charts show where educational intervention is most effective.
Interpretations
