[Histonet] Negative controls for special stains (non-organism)?!?!

[Morken, Tim]

I am reposting this because I didn't get any responses and am hoping for some info from other JC-inspected labs....

Tim
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Hi all,

Our Joint Commission audit was just completed (first time for JC for me). We passed almost everything fine.

The one thing they came up with is that we don't use "negative controls" for most of the special stains - like trichrome, congo red, etc. We use negative controls for micro-organism stains but not for the others. In fact I've never heard of anyone doing that and can't find any information in books, other lab manuals, etc. CLIA and CAP do not require negative controls for special stains.

Has anyone had this issue with JC?

Does anyone run "negative" controls for non-organism special stains?

Frankly I'm not sure how that would be done for something like a trichrome or other purely tissue-element stains.

Thanks for any insight!

Tim Morken
Supervisor, Histology / IPOX
UCSF Medical Center
San Francisco, CA

Email: tim.morken <@t> ucsfmedctr.org<mailto:tim.morken <@t> ucsfmedctr.org>