title: Morphology training is compulsory to ensure relevant clinical results.
abstract: The study aimed to evaluate the quality of sperm morphology reading skills of andrology technologists in a developing country who are responsible for the analysis of semen in their institutions or clinics. The 1-day workshop was held as a post-congress training course during the second World Congress on Practical Infertility Management and Human Reproduction, Mumbai, India. The workshop format consisted of four sections namely (i) pre-training test, (ii) lectures on morphometric characteristics and details of normal and abnormal spermatozoa (iii) a consensus training session and (iv) a hands-on post-training test. The results revealed that the workshop participants had very little or no knowledge of sperm morphology, because the pre-training % relative difference between the reference value and the participants was 188%. Following training, however, the % difference decreased to 37% and minus 22% post-training tests. These somewhat alarming results highlight the need for training opportunities and facilities for andrology technologists.
authors.affiliation: Department of Obstetrics & Gynaecology, Tygerberg Hospital, University of Stellenbosch, Cape Town, South Africa. drf@sun.ac.za
authors.forename: D R
authors.initials: DR
authors.lastname: Franken
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Avari
authors.forename: N
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Palshetkar
mesh_terms: D004502:Education, Medical, Continuing; D006801:Humans; D007194:India; D008297:Male; D017056:Medical Laboratory Personnel / Q000193:education*; D011361:Professional Competence; D055101:Semen Analysis / Q000592:standards*; D013094:Spermatozoa / Q000166:cytology*