Reading Gram Stained Direct Smears (Online Course)
Betty Smith, MT (ASCP), Jaimy Hill, MT (ASCP)
Has your laboratory ever had difficulty correctly reporting out cerebrospinal and joint fluid gram stains during off hours? This course helps provide training for technologists who must read gram stain but do not work primarily in the microbiology laboratory. Great for cross-training and for clinical laboratory science students as well.
Help meet laboratory safety, compliance, and CE requirements
Laboratory subscriptions include unlimited access to Reading Gram Stained Direct Smears and 56 other online courses, plus MediaLab's powerful, easy-to-use learning management system for tracking and documenting laboratory compliance training.
An individual subscription can help you meet laboratory continuing education requirements for AMT, ASCP, NCA, and more. Over 105 ASCLS P.A.C.E. credits are available from 57 online courses.
Continuing Education Credits
- P.A.C.E.® Contact Hours: 1.5 hour(s)
- Florida Board of Clinical Laboratory Science CE - General (Microbiology/Mycology/Parasitology): 1.5 hour(s)
Objectives
- Define a direct smear.
- Describe several ways that gram stained direct smears are clinically useful.
- Discuss examination of direct smears with respect to: control smears, macroscopic appearance, and characteristics of appropriate microscopic fields.
- Discuss the identification of common nonbacterial elements with respect to: purpose, size, shape, differentiating characteristics, and gram stain reaction.
- Identify the following types of bacteria found in gram stained direct smears: gram postive cocci, gram negative cocci, gram positive bacilli, gram negative bacilli, gram negative diplococci.
- Discuss the procedure for reading gram stained direct smears with respect to: principle, procedure, and sources of error.
Course Outline
Click on a link in the outline to view a sample page from this course.
- Introduction to Reading Direct Smears
- Choosing Microscopic Fields
- How to Choose a Microscopic Field
- Quality Control Smears
- Macroscopic Smear Appearance
- Thick Smears
- Thin Smears
- Properly Decolorized Smears
- Precipitated Stain
- Under-decolorized smear
- Regarding the smear shown in this illustration, which of the following is true?
- Regarding the smear shown in this illustration, which of the following is true? (Choose ALL of the c
- Regarding the smear shown in this illustration, which of the following is true? (Choose ALL of the c
- Regarding the smear shown in this illustration, which of the following is true? (Choose ALL of the c
- The smears used for quality control are: (Choose ALL of the correct answers)
- A marking pen can be used to mark the back of a:
- Nonbacterial Cells in Direct Smears
- Cellular elements
- Epithelial cells
- White blood cells
- Red blood cells
- Yeast cells
- Fungal hyphae
- Match the Gram stain reaction for each of the following nonbacterial elements.
- Most background material is Gram negative.
- White blood cells are Gram negative.
- Which of the following cells are about the same size as red cells?
- Epithelial cells can be differentiated from white blood cells because epithelial cells have
- Bacteria in Direct Smears
- Identification of bacteria
- Gram positive cocci (GPC)
- Gram positive diplococci
- Gram negative cocci (GNC)
- Gram positive rods(GPR)
- Gram negative rods (GNR)
- Intracellular bacteria.
- Gram negative diplococci
- Epithelial cell
- In this slide, which structure or structures are present? (Choose ALL of the correct answers)
- In this slide, what is the conspicuous structure?
- In this slide, white blood cells, and gram negative cocci are present.
- In this slide, which structure or structures are present? (Choose ALL of the correct answers)
- The cell indicated by the arrow is a white blood cell containing gram negative diplococci.
- Reading and Reporting Direct Smears
- Principle
- Overall Procedure
- Evaluation of Controls
- Size and Appearance of Cellular Elements
- Recording Bacterial Characteristics
- Reporting Direct Smear Results
- Significance of Specific Findings:
- Contaminated Gram Stain Solution
- Special Considerations for Genital Smears
- The background material in a Gram stained smear that has been adequately decolorized is:
- How many fields should be examined before you quantitate a direct smear?
- If a smear is over-decolorized, it can be salvaged by repeating the Gram staining procedure.
- Gram negative cocci which occur in pairs with their adjacent sides flattened, giving them a coffee b
- In a male with a purulent urethral exudate, a presumptive diagnosis of gonorrhea is made by finding Gram negative intracellular diplococci in a direct...
Additional Information
This course describes the morphology and Gram stain reactions of bacteria and nonbacterial elements found in Gram stained smears of clinical material.
Level of Instruction: Basic
Intended Audience: This course is suitable for basic clinical microbiology courses at the post-secondary level. It can also be used as review material for clinical laboratory practitioners, medical students, and pathology residents.
Prerequisites: Skill in the use of the microscope, aseptic techniques, experience preparing and gram staining smears, and experience reading smears from cultures.
Author Credentials: This course was developed by Betty Smith MT (ASCP) and Jaimy Hill MT (ASCP), and was updated by Education Materials for Health Professionals, Inc., under the supervision of Marjorie Spohn MT(ASCP).It wa reviewed and adapted for online use by Paul Fekete, M.D. fellow C.A.P.
Copyright: Copyright EMHP Inc.,Dayton OH. Licensed to MediaLab Inc., Dacula, GA. Web-based version produced solely by MediaLab Inc.
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