Knowledge of Healthcare Professionals on Full Blood Count Histogram Interpretation: a cross-sectional study from Ghana

Abstract

Introduction: The full blood count (FBC) is a routine assay that provides information on all the blood cells, such as erythrocytes, leucocytes, and platelets. The FBC results are usually accompanied by histograms which are applicable for making a preliminary prediction of many disease states. In this study, we assessed the utility of FBC histograms among health workers and their knowledge of its interpretation.

Methods: An online quantitative cross-sectional survey designed using Google forms were conducted from April to May 2022. The convenience sampling method was used to invite health workers to the survey that demanded that they answer questions that assessed their levels of utility and knowledge on the interpretation of FBC histograms. Data collected was analysed using the IBM SPSS version 26 using descriptive and inferential statistics.

Results: The final analysis involved responses from 206 health workers who were made up of 133 (64.4%) males and 73 (35.4%) females. The results indicated that a greater portion of respondents makes use of FBC results (94.7%), 73.8% use FBC analyzers that produce histograms. However, only a small number (30.6%) use FBC histograms in diagnosing patients. A large majority of respondents (80.6%) demonstrated poor knowledge of the FBC histogram with the remaining demonstrating average (14.6%) and good (4.9%) knowledge.

Conclusion: The level of knowledge on FBC histograms is highly inadequate among Ghanaian healthcare professionals and requires urgent attention. We recommend that relevant healthcare professionals should be given continual refresher training on the interpretation of FBC and its histograms to aid in patient management.