Microscopic examination of Wright's stained blood film by skilled professionals has remained the standard laboratory method for assessment of peripheral blood cells morphology. However, assessment of blood cells morphology with this method is problematic since interpretation of result need considerable experts. Objective: The objective of the study was to evaluate the performance of laboratory professionals on manual assessment of Peripheral blood cells morphology (MAPBCM) and associated

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... in government hospital laboratories of Addis Ababa. Methods: A cross sectional study was conducted from April 1 to May15, 2018. A total of 202 medical laboratory professionals were participated with a response rate of 90.6%. Self-administered questionnaires and observational checklist were employed to assess factors and routine activity. Ten panel slides, eight from cases with hematological abnormality, one from healthy person and one RBC inclusion (malaria) were used to evaluate laboratory professionals' performance in MAPBCM. Data were entered and analyzed using SPSS version20 and p-value <0.05 was taken as statistically significant. Results: More than half of participants (56.9%) were male and the mean age of the participants was 30 (SD=5.1) years. All participants had never taken training, 158(78.2%) of them had sometimes done smear review for flagged automated result. Among13 hospitals 11(84.6%) had daily microscope preventive maintenance. Of the participants, 31 (15.3%), 32(15.8%), 23(11.4%) correctly reported all red blood cells (RBC), white blood cells (WBC) and platelets morphology panel slides individually. performance of professionals in assessment of WBC (p=0.028), and platelet (p=0.005) had statistical significant association with experience in hematology laboratory. The overall agreement between reference and participants reading was 55%, 52%, 41%, 35% for RBC, WBC, platelet and malaria detection, respectively. Conclusion: Overall low agreements were found between reference reading and partici [...]