ADN107 – Advance15 Rapid in House Microscopic Checks

Advance15^TM Courses help you to develop your knowledge and skills in a defined area of small animal practice. These fully flexible online courses include tutor support and discussion forums. The course materials are all recorded, and you have full access for a 12 month period. The course runs for a four week period, and you’ll get tutor support for a further 2 weeks via the course forum in case you need to catch up. After that, you’ll still have full access to all of your course materials although the tutor support will end. Complete your learning and get your CPD Certificate for 15 Hours of CPD.

Running samples in your practice’s lab for accurate testing allows so many diseases to be diagnosed. It often starts with automated analysis but manual testing remains integral and is often via microscopy. Even if digital, using a microscope well can provide rapid and clinically vital information that automated analysis cannot. All this facilitates correct and timely intervention to guide therapy and further investigations.

The course will focus on quick but reliable and often sequential checks, both visibly and via microscopy to fit into your standard procedures when analysing your daily cases.  This will provide accurate results and help prevent mis-identification of artifacts as being significant, so diseases can be confidently diagnosed and monitored.

It will centre on cats and dogs for nurses with an interest in developing their microscopy and honing their understanding of how automated and manual methods complement each other in veterinary medicine.

Week 1 Haematology: Analyser & Smear Introduction

In the first session we will outline how haematology analysers work and where they can often go wrong when measuring and counting. This will involve starting to use graphical clues to complement the analyser’s numerical data, showing what it can miss or mis-classify.

In session 2 we will move onto consistently making a good fresh smear to check for normal cell morphology and validate the numbers from the analyser, filling in the blanks for a full haematology or seeing atypical cells that need specialist review or additional testing.

Week 2 Cytology: Skin and preparation

This week will focus on the skin and common diseases that are readily identified here, both via stained microscopy and unstained preparations, including skin scrapes.

In the first session we will crucially look at proper sampling and preparation, both staining and smearing. Only after this can we identify infection and some common growths we will encounter. We will move onto address rapid screening of samples when under anaesthesia, or if sending away, to ensure they are likely to be diagnostic. This will lead into skin scrapes and impressions, where again good sampling technique will reliably detect parasites and other agents seen in skin diseases to allow their accurate identification for specific therapy.

Week 3 Cytology: Fluids and Analysis

Fluid samples need specific handling and examination so their smears can be used to guide further investigations and diagnose diseases. In the first session, we will look at analysing the various fluids and lavages consistently and accurately, via an analyser, manually and also microscopically.

In the second session, we will move onto some specific types to identify inflammation and infection to guide if surgical intervention versus medical therapy is required. These sessions be simplified and stepwise in their approach so that rapid intervention can be started solo even if awaiting other results and investigations.

Week 4 Urinary Microscopy

In this last week we are focussing on urinary analysis, which can be overlooked but is necessary to complete our patients’ minimum data set, as well as diagnose specific diseases. We will start with routine sampling interference and factors that alter our biochemical analysis and then in the last session, focus on standardising urine microscopy, so accurate diagnosis and monitoring can be reliably achieved without the risk of misleading in vitro artifact. Microscopy will again include both fresh wet prep and complementary dried stained material, as appropriate for the case and disease.

Course Tutor: Roger Powell VetMB MA DipACVP DipRCPath MRCVS

Feedback from VNs who have completed this course:-

‘A very informative course helping to refresh on some techniques also that may not be used as frequently as we should in practice. I would definitely recommend!’

‘Each session proved very useful. I especially learnt a great deal from Session 1 with regards the inhouse blood analysers. It was excellent. Thank you.’

‘Enjoyed the course and its content. Able to access the lectures at a time that was convenient for me between family and work. Really good course notes.’

‘This course has vastly exceeded expectations. RP has been so generous with his time in responding to questions on the forum. Rather than a 2 line response, I have had very detailed, illuminating replies to even the most basic of queries. These have been delivered with amazing expertise and humour when appropriate. I have been able to change practice protocols and enlighten the vets about procedures, particularly in the processing of urine samples. This can only improve the service we offer to clients.’

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