Q&A column, 3/17
March 2017—Our hospital system is implementing Sysmex instruments with a focus on the accuracy of the absolute white blood cell values—use of the absolute neutrophil count and immature granulocytes with the WBC as markers for septicemia. I then became aware that the hospital purchased the St. John Sepsis v14 protocol, which lists 10 percent bands as one of the markers for septicemia. The Rumke for 10 percent is 4–16. Using bands is not consistent with reducing manual differentials and is not an accurate parameter to use. Are there other protocols using WBC/ANC?