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Only Cells course · Laboratory skills

Fix, Stain, Focus

Staining and microscopy for the haematology laboratory

The bench skills behind every good blood film. Learn to make, fix and stain films, put staining faults right, and set up and look after a microscope. For anyone who makes, stains or reads films.

  • 11 modules
  • 42 interactive lessons
  • Workbook (PDF)
  • Certificate

What you will be able to do

  • Choose and check the right sample, make a well-spread wedge film, and recognise and put right a badly made one
  • Dry and fix films correctly, and say which preparations must not be fixed in methanol
  • Explain how Romanowsky stains work and stain a film by hand with May–Grünwald–Giemsa
  • Explain how pH controls colour, and prepare and check a buffer
  • Recognise staining faults, find the cause and decide whether to restain or remake
  • Prepare and stain thick and thin films for malaria, and know how long to search and when to escalate
  • Perform and read the special red cell stains: reticulocytes, HbH, Heinz bodies, Perls' and Kleihauer
  • Describe the principles and normal reactions of the cytochemical stains for white cells
  • Run automated stainers and staining quality control within a UKAS-accredited quality system
  • Set up a microscope with Köhler illumination and use oil immersion correctly
  • Look after a microscope, solve common faults and work at it comfortably

What’s in the course

11 modules and 42 lessons, with an assessment at the end of each module and a final assessment. Your certificate records the learning time you actually spend, for your CPD record.

  1. Module 1: Making a good blood film5 lessons
    The journey from sample to stained slide, choosing and checking the sample, slides, spreaders and labels, spreading a wedge film step by step, and how to recognise and put right a badly made film.
  2. Module 2: Drying and fixation3 lessons
    How to dry a film quickly and why it matters, fixing in methanol and the water artefact, and which preparations must never go into methanol.
  3. Module 3: The Romanowsky stains4 lessons
    How two dyes produce every colour on a blood film, the stains used in UK laboratories, staining a film by hand with MGG, and the colour chart a good film should match.
  4. Module 4: Buffers and pH3 lessons
    Why the pH of the buffer decides the colour of every cell, which pH to use for which job, and how to make up and check a buffer.
  5. Module 5: Troubleshooting a stained film4 lessons
    Putting staining faults right: too acidic or too alkaline, under- and over-stained, uneven and deposit, the findings that are not faults at all, and how to decide whether to restain or remake.
  6. Module 6: Thick and thin films for malaria4 lessons
    Why malaria needs both a thick and a thin film, how to make and stain them, how long to search, and the UK pathway when parasites are found.
  7. Module 7: Special stains for red cells4 lessons
    The stains that show what a Romanowsky film can't: reticulocytes, haemoglobin H and Heinz bodies, iron with Perls' stain, and fetal cells with the Kleihauer test.
  8. Module 8: Cytochemistry for white cells4 lessons
    The enzyme and chemical stains that help tell one white cell lineage from another: what each one shows and what a normal reaction looks like.
  9. Module 9: Automated staining and quality4 lessons
    Automated stainers and digital morphology, daily staining quality control, external quality assessment, and the records and SOPs behind a UKAS-accredited service.
  10. Module 10: The microscope4 lessons
    The parts of a microscope and what each one does to the picture, choosing objectives, setting up Köhler illumination step by step, and using oil immersion properly.
  11. Module 11: Looking after the microscope and yourself3 lessons
    Cleaning and caring for a microscope, tracking down common faults, and setting up your workstation so you can look down a microscope comfortably for years.

Educational use: a training course for laboratory staff and students. Always follow your laboratory’s procedures and current national guidance.