Medtechs take the best CELL-fies during the Parasitology workshop

Reunited with my co-interns during the seminar. This is Mary Ann
and Arman, both working in a government hospital.

The need for standardization of reporting results in the field of parasitology has to be elucidated and if must, be established to ensure uniformity between hospitals and free-standing laboratories within the country. Thanks to PAMET-Cebu Chapter for the effort in organizing a two-day seminar entitled Quality Assurance and Reporting of Parasites for Standardized Routine Stool Examination held last August 14-17, 2017 in Gullas College of Medicine, Banilad Cebu City presided by Madame Lerma de la Llana-Paris, RMT, MSPH as the guest speaker. 

Preparing the Kato-katz smear

Hard to admit but it is disappointing to think that we give less importance in parasitology than we do to other departments in the laboratory. Hence, parasitology has been taken for granted in the corners of the clinical laboratory. While others do the routine stool examination wholeheartedly, some of our colleagues in the profession omit things that appallingly contradict to the standard operating procedures and this calls our attention to adhere to the protocols and improve ourselves particularly in the microscopy aspect. 

On the first day of the seminar which we call as the dry workshop, the lecturer gave us the overview and the status of parasite microscopy in the Philippines. The lecturer gave emphasis on how important the pre-analytical variables are such as the time the specimen was collected until it is submitted to the laboratory, the importance of microscopic exam and the microscopist’s proficiency in parasite identification. Concerns were raised regarding to the practices and problems encountered in reporting parasites in stool analysis. The World Health Organization (WHO) suggests that the standard reporting of ova or cysts should be quantitated per smear and it was agreed that upon reporting Entamoeba species, the remark should be E. histolytica/ E. dispar cyst or E. histolytica/ E. dispar trophozoite unless hematophagous E. histolytica trophozoite is confirmed. 

Fecal Ether Concentration Technique

On the second day which is the wet workshop, techniques such as the Kato-Katz, Kato Thick and Formalin-Ether Concentration Technique for food handlers were properly observed and performed by each of the participants. We had the chance to look up-close the eggs of the unholy three: Ascaris lumbricoides, Trichuris trichiura and the Hookworm and fed our eyes with the not-so-commonly encountered parasites such as Fasciola hepatica egg, Balantidium coli cyst and trophozoite, Heterophyid, Hymenolepis nana and Giardia lamblia cyst to name a few. Lugol’s iodine alongside with the NSS in direct fecal smear can definitely aid in observing the parasite’s morphology. An evaluation through the given post-test gauged the participant’s knowledge in identifying some clinically significant parasites prepared on slides. 

We may not become experts right after the seminar but as we get along, we will learn more through experience. What we’ve learned from the textbooks won’t suffice once we are in the practice. Continuing education in diagnostic parasitology through exposure to seminars and workshops like these can help establish the microscopist’s confidence and reliability to identify and distinguish one parasite after the other. 

As medical technologists, we must not let ourselves stagnate our knowledge and neglect what has been the necessary. One must appreciate his/her role in the delivery of quality healthcare even in routine stool analysis to meet the needs of public health.

With our completion certificate! With Madam Paris the guest speaker.