CLINICAL LAB SCIENEC

CHAPTER 13: HEMATOLOGY AND COAGULATION 349
3. Stained blood film (See Procedure #1
for directions on properly preparing and
staining a blood film.)
4. Brightfield microscope
5. Microscope immersion oil
6. Lens paper
7. Sharps container for disposal of used
slides, and other appropriate waste
disposal containers
Lobed
nucleus
Cytoplasm
Platelet
Central
area of
pallor
Procedure
1. Wash hands and don gloves.
2. Assemble necessary equipment and
supplies.
3. The instructor may choose to provide
stained blood films from a normal patient
for students to become familiar with the
morphology of both RBC and WBCs, or
the student may prepare a stained blood
film following the steps in Procedure #1.
FIGURE 13-12 Blood cells normally found in circulation.
Source: Delmar/Cengage Learning.
4. Visually inspect the slide to ensure that the blood film is properly distributed on it
and that a feathered edge is present (see Procedure #1).
5. Place the stained blood film on the microscope stage.
6. Focus the microscope using the low-power objective, locating the feathered end
of the smear.
7. Using the fine adjustment knob of the microscope and adjusting the light source,
find an area where the distribution shows RBCs that are not touching but that are
close to each other.
8. Place a drop of immersion oil on the smear where the light is brightest from the
condenser.
9. Rotate the nosepiece of the microscope until the oil immersion objective comes
in contact with the immersion oil.
10. Use the fine adjustment to gain a sharp image of the blood cells.
11. Adjust the condenser and the iris diaphragm until a good image of the cells is
obtained.
12. Scan the slide from side to side, making sure the focal field is in an area where
the cells are not touching. Move the slide along the stage of the microscope in a
broad lane running transversely across the body of the film, avoiding the edges
completely (Figure 13-7), as cells are sometimes dragged there in greater numbers.
13. Observe at least 10 fields for RBC morphology.
14. Analyze the size of the RBCs. The size of RBCs should be roughly equivalent to
the nucleus of a WBC known as a lymphocyte, one of the five types of WBCs.
15. Analyze the color of the RBCs. A normal RBC will have a “central pallor” surrounded
by a darker edge. Central pallor of more than one-half of the RBC would
indicate a lack of hemoglobin concentration.
Cytoplasmic
granules
Nucleus
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