Even the most advanced automated haematology analysers at times cannot provide some helpful and actionable clinical information that will have an impact on patient care and would otherwise not be detected if morphological evaluation of blood cells is not performed. In this session we will review a basic approach to examination of the blood smear in a systematic way, review what is normal, discuss the most common pathological changes that can be detected and acknowledge changes that would benefit from referral laboratory analysis or additional testing.

Key Learning Objectives:

• Identify a good quality blood smear.
• Adopt a systematic approach to blood smear evaluation and review the normal findings in healthy patients.
• Evaluate and interpret common pathological changes that have clinical impact on patient care and can be readily identified on blood smear evaluation.
• Acknowledge the changes that would benefit from clinical pathologist evaluation or additional testing.