| Sept. 7, 2004
MGHS Medical Center Laboratory
rewarded for its flawless work identifying cells
Chosen as one of 19 hematology morphology referees nationwide
The Marquette
General Health System Laboratory at Peninsula Medical Center
has been selected by The College
of American Pathologists (CAP) to serve as one of a select few
hematology morphology “referee” facilities nationwide.
Marquette General
Health System Medical Center Laboratory Technologist Paula
Genovese looks through a microscope to review a cell. The
Medical Center lab has been selected by The
College of American Pathologists (CAP) to serve as one of a select few hematology
morphology “referee” facilities nationwide. (MGH
photo)
Referee labs provide specimen reviews used to test the proficiency
of other laboratories across the country.
Hematology is the branch of medicine that deals with diseases
of the blood and blood-forming organs, while morphology
is the branch of biology that
studies the form and structure of organisms without consideration of function.
Under the Clinical Laboratory Improvement Act (CLIA), labs are required
to subscribe to federally mandated proficiency testing services — like CAP — for
each test they perform. Based out of Northfield, Ill., the CAP chooses
referees that exhibit a record of perfect performance of cell identification.
According to Mark Easterwood, supervisor of the clinic lab at the Peninsula
Medical Center, the medical center lab has not had an error on cell identification
in more than five years. The minimum requirements to be selected as a referee
are no errors on any cell identification in the last year.
The MGHS Medical Center lab is just one of 19 referee labs and approximately
3,700 total labs across the country enrolled in the CAP Survey Hematology
program.
Dr. Martin Matthews, Medical Director of Hematology, is the pathologist directly
involved with the blood slide review.
As a referee, the lab will receive at least two sets of slides (30-50 per
sent) containing images of blood cells for identification. The identifications
are
then sent back, and Marquette General’s results are compared to those
of other referee labs. Those results are used as the target result for
each blood cell image in a proficiency-testing event at some time in the
future.
Three times a year, MGHS receives 10 unknown blood slides to identify, accompanied
by corresponding case histories. For each cell identification, CAP uses a
referee system to arrive at a decision comparable to all other CAP labs.
Unknown cells are identified by one of three medical technologists (Paula
Genovese, John Junakand Easterwood) using a photograph made through a microscope
and
the accompanying case history. If, at this point the cell can't be identified,
or the medical technologists can’t agree on identification, they
confer with a Marquette General pathologist.
Easterwood said the staff at the MGHS Peninsula Medical Center Lab performs
difficult, abnormal cell identifications during their daily patient workload,
which includes oncology patients and patients with other hematologic disorders.
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