The pathologist is your friend

When in doubt or when you think you are torn between releasing an unsure result, stop and think before doing it. You're not alone! That's why pathologists come to help.

What could be more alarming when you released it right away and someone will question?You've got to defend and protect your license. Your pathologist will defend you.

If you're confused between what's a blast cell or not, always refer to the pathologist. They are assigned in the laboratory as the experts of these fields. There's nothing to be afraid of them. A thorough diff count with immature cells noted from a cancer patient can help the hematologist monitor the patient's condition. By this, the pathologist can teach you more on how to distinguish the WBC precursors as well as the RBCs.

It's a nice thing to know that in the hospital that I'm working, pathologists are so approachable and very open to junior lab technologists like me. It's also our hospital's protocol to always refer questionable CBC results with various flaggings to pathologist before releasing (with our initial manual diff counts of course). 

I'm talking not just in hematology but other departments as well such as in blood banking where ABO discrepancies are encountered and other special procedures too. They serve as the judge if you really know the procedures and its principles so you have to be knowledgeable.

But then, make sure you're prepared and at least studied. A prepared MT marks an impression to the pathologist that at least you made an effort and you never stop learning. Show your worth. That's why this profession never fails to amaze me. There are still lots of things I need to learn being a medical laboratory scientist!