[Histonet] Blade Rationing

[Morken, Timothy]

Rene, Thanks (again!) for putting the numbers up  on this. 

It is one thing to say "not a good idea" but as has been said, if you can count it you can manage it, so it's the numbers that will convince people. 

Numbers help in the discussion by making the situation real. How about some numbers from everyone about how many blades they think is reasonable?

Tim Morken
UCSF Medical Center

-----Original Message-----
From: histonet-bounces <@t> lists.utsouthwestern.edu [mailto:histonet-bounces <@t> lists.utsouthwestern.edu] On Behalf Of Rene J Buesa
Sent: Tuesday, June 18, 2013 6:55 AM
To: Teresa Moore; histonet <@t> lists.utsouthwestern.edu
Subject: Re: [Histonet] Blade Rationing

At 200 blocks/day x 5 days/week x 4 weeks/month = 4000 blocks/month which means that the 3 of you will have to use 1 blade every 80 blocks including trimming and sectioning which is ABSOLUTELY RIDICULOUS!
The cost of blades, especially the better ones, are going up and you can save by using one blade to trim and another to make the final section, but at the rate your manager wants the quality will be compromised.
The "norm" (if there is a norm at all) is that a histotech will probably change blades every 5 to 10 blocks if the infiltration is good and there are no decals involved in the process.
Lets assume that you can hold to 1 blade every 10 blocks, that will mean that during 1 month you will use 400 blades = 8 blades boxes.
Find out how many you are actually using now and you will have an idea of your present blades usage.
Additionally dull blades not only compromise the quality of the sections but also reduce sectioning productivity and what you may be saving in blades are going to increase in histotech time and total section production costs.
René J.

From: Teresa Moore <tmoore9k <@t> gmail.com>
To: histonet <@t> lists.utsouthwestern.edu 
Sent: Monday, June 17, 2013 5:10 PM
Subject: [Histonet] Blade Rationing


I work in a hospital, there are three of us on this particular shift and we
cut approx. 200 blocks, give or take a few.  Our histo lab manager is
telling us we should only be using one pack of blades (50 per pack) a
month.  I'm wondering what other techs think of this especially lab
managers and supervisors.

tmoore9k <@t> gmail.com
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