Practical Cytology and Haematology (Swindon)

This practical one-day course is designed to enhance your diagnostic confidence and microscope skills in routine haematology and cytology. Core to everyday veterinary practice, blood and cytological smear interpretation requires both technical competence and pattern recognition - skills you will actively develop throughout this interactive session.

Under expert guidance, you will spend structured time at the microscope examining a range of carefully selected blood and fine needle aspirate smears from real clinical cases. You’ll practise structured blood film examination, learn how to estimate total white blood cell and platelet counts from smears, and identify both normal and commonly abnormal cell morphologies. You will also refine your approach to fine needle aspirates, recognising key cytological features such as inflammatory cells, infectious agents and cells with malignant characteristics.

By the end of the day, you should feel more confident integrating microscopic findings into your clinical decision-making and know when to seek specialist review.

Topics covered include:

• Structured blood smear evaluation: technique and systematic approach
  
• Estimating white cell and platelet counts from smears
  
• Recognising normal erythrocytes, leukocytes and platelets
  
• Identifying common haematological abnormalities and their clinical relevance
  
• Preparing and interpreting fine needle aspirate cytology smears
  
• Identifying basic cell types in cytology and recognising inflammatory reactions and organisms
  
• Recognising cytological features suggestive of malignancy
  
• Knowing when to request review by a clinical pathologist