Hematology in the ER
1.0 CE Credit Hour / Eric J. Fish, DVM, PhD, DACVP
Eric J. Fish, DVM, PhD, DACVP
Dr. Eric Fish is a veterinarian, pathologist, scientist, educator, and business leader with over a decade of experience in veterinary medicine and the life sciences. His diverse background spans roles in academia as well as the private sector, including both start-ups and corporate medical technology companies. Dr. Fish was an early adopter of digital pathology, having started a static telecytology company called CytoVetStat and co-founding Lacuna Diagnostics (which was acquired by Heska in 2021).
His professional areas of interest include hematology and bone marrow disorders, oncologic pathology, iron metabolism and biomarkers, microRNA profiling, digital pathology, and applied computer vision and deep learning AI/ML (particularly computational pathology). In addition to subject matter expertise in these areas, Dr. Fish has led research and development as an executive, principal investigator, and as an innovation manager leading cross-functional teams of engineers, scientists, product managers, and managers in finance, procurement, and operations.
Overview:
This presentation will highlight the crucial role of peripheral blood smear reviews in veterinary care. We discuss why reviewing blood smears is essential for quality control, to verify hematology analyzer results, and to identify pathologies or artifacts that machines might miss. The lecture covers the assessment of red blood cells, including differentiating between anemia types and understanding regenerative versus non-regenerative anemias. You will also learn about white blood cell assessment, stressing the importance of manual differential counts for accurate diagnosis. Finally, you will learn about platelet assessment, covering thrombocytopenia and thrombocytosis, and their implications in patient care.
Learning Objectives:
- Explain the importance of peripheral blood smear review as a quality control measure in hematology, including its role in identifying artifacts and machine misclassifications.
- Identify conditions where manual WBC correction is necessary due to the presence of nucleated red blood cells (nRBCs).
- Distinguish between regenerative and non-regenerative anemia by interpreting reticulocyte counts, red blood cell indices, and morphologic changes on blood smears.
- Recognize the characteristic leukogram patterns (e.g., stress, physiologic, inflammatory) and the significance of a left shift in interpreting white blood cell abnormalities.
- Perform manual platelet estimation from a blood smear and differentiate between spurious and true thrombocytopenia.
This course is RACE-approved for 1.0 continuing education credits hours in jurisdictions that accept RACE-approval.
