title: Bedside haematology: new facility in general practice.
abstract: A technique has been developed for performing rapid white cell counts and differential white cell counts at the bedside which uses a pocket McArthur microscope and a development of Field's staining technique. A fixed volume thick film technique is used for the total white cell count that uses the minimum of equipment, all of which is disposable. In a study of samples from 88 patients using the thick film technique and standard laboratory techniques the thick film counts fell within 1.1 X 10(9)/1 (mean) of the standard laboratory count. This compares with a value of 1.0 X 10(9)/1 (mean) for within laboratory variability, using different electronic counters on the same specimen.
mesh_terms: D005194:Family Practice; D005335:Fever of Unknown Origin / Q000097:blood; D006801:Humans; D007958:Leukocyte Count / Q000295:instrumentation / Q000379:methods*