[Histonet] Re: Unregistered HT

[Bob Richmond]

Since somebody mentioned the Samurai Pathologist (who is now 74 years old
and in his 50th year in pathology) -

I agree with most of what's been said here and I won't repeat it.

>From the pathologist's viewpoint - remember that most pathologists are now
on salary (or soon will be) and don't have a dog in the fight about doing
the job as cheaply as possible.

I think that a very large part of the problem is that most pathologists
haven't a clue as to what goes on in the histology lab (that's why we cram
cassettes full of fatty breast tissue), and that pathologists need to
acquire this knowledge in residency, to the degree that they can teach and
trouble-shoot or work with senior technologists who can. It's particularly
important that pathologists learn to embed.

Edwards Deming was an economist who grew up in "operations research" during
World War 2. After the War he tried to get the automotive industry to adopt
his methods. The executives laughed at him (and still do in the business
schools, I think), so he took his ideas to Japan, where they built the
Japanese automative industry. Deming's major idea (if I understand him
correctly) was that workers need constant specific feedback about what
they're doing.

I think that the establishment of effective feedback from pathologist to
histotechnologist is the first step in solving the problem we've been
talking about. And I think that means a pathologist sitting down with a
histotechnologist and reviewing some of the day's slides every blessed day.

Bob Richmond
Samurai Pathologist
Maryville TN