Reporting Microscopic Findings

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Reporting Microscopic Findings

Gram stained direct smears are examined using the oil immersion objective of the microscope (total magnification =1000x). Before examining the smear by oil immersion, the slide should be scanned on low power field (100x) and high power field (400x) to look for suitable fields, areas of best staining, and large objects such as hyphae and clusters of yeast.
The quantity and type of bacteria and nonbacterial cellular elements present are recorded. A minimum of 10 microscopic fields should be examined before reporting the Gram stain result.
Organisms and other cells that are observed on a Gram stained smear should be reported with as much description as possible.

In addition to staining reaction, the shape of the organisms should be reported (e.g., cocci or bacilli). It may also be useful to report the cellular arrangement of microorganisms on the smear; however, you should follow your laboratory's procedure for reporting cellular arrangements.
Cellular arrangements may be described as:
  • Single cells
  • Pairs
  • Tetrads
  • Chains
  • Clusters
  • Budding (in the case of yeast)