Clinical and Laboratory Standards Institute document POCT10-A2—Physician and Nonphysician Provider-Performed Microscopy Testing; Approved Guideline—Second Edition provides information, instructions, and performance criteria to assist providers who perform microscopy procedures (provider-performed microscopy [PPM]), with accurate reporting of diagnostic information from their observations. These are appropriate procedures for the examining room, emergency room, or clinic environment as an adjunct to traditional clinical laboratory testing. This testing may also provide for a rapid diagnosis of the patient condition. The guideline relates information concerning specimen collection, methodologies, procedural steps, reporting of results, and the QA aspects of PPM.

New to this document revision is a reorganized and more comprehensive section for wet preparations (Section 14), which identifies differences between wet preparations for vaginal and nonvaginal procedures. 

Added to this document are representative pictures (or images) for as many procedures as possible, to facilitate training programs using this document as a teaching tool. Although considerable effort was made to ensure each test or procedure included in this guideline includes a picture (or image), in a few cases, none were available for citing. 

References were included to enable the audience to obtain this information. With the inclusion of these images, Appendix C has been created to help the reader identify and locate the images within the document.

This guideline is limited to procedures that require the use of microscopic observation with minimal specimen preparation, typically performed by a provider in near-patient testing environments. This category of testing exists because of the nontransferable nature and labile nature of the specimens addressed in these testing processes. 

This guideline is intended for use in settings where near-patient testing is performed (including, but not limited to, hospitals, medical centers, academic centers, providers’ offices, outpatient clinics, community and rural health centers, and medical and dental training programs). Those performing provider-performed microscopy (PPM) procedures include physicians and nonphysician providers. Preparatory steps may be performed by trained support staff. 

This document may also be used to train qualified individuals who are allowed to perform PPM, as outlined by the local regulations; however, it may not address the application of specific rules, regulations, and accrediting organization requirements for PPM procedures. Regulatory and accreditation requirements and organizational sources should be consulted, as applicable.