[Histonet] Avoinding confusion of cases

[George Cole]

Bob Richman has a couple of interesting messages in the
histonet----about not doing similar cases in a row, to avoid mix ups
with the resulting expensive litigation.  Now I'm the one who's sending
the muscle and nerve packets all over the place.  I did nothing but same
cases in the 6,359 muscles and 2000plus nerves.  There was rarely any
"other" to process in between my specialty.  I didn't even think of this
when I gave each biopsy my own number.  My muscles were numbered from 1
to 6,359.  I sent the reports and case paper work to the main lab. They
assigned a number to the case. But all my slides clear through prelim H
& E's to histochemistry had my number on it.  When a case was ready to
go to the neuropthologist, I put labels on the slides with the
department accession number on them.. 
At any rate my method of numbering the cases worked very well.  I think
the trouble you discuss is more likely to occur when you use the
official surgical numbers, which are assigned by someone else and get to
be large soon in the year. The one who cuts in marks a strictly nominal
number on the paraffin mold.  But my numbers were real sequence numbers
with no letters in it that I gave to the case and wrote it on its mold
and in my register. But every slide of mine was numbered in  sequence
with that number in indelible ink from the start to keep things straight
until the accession number came out. When that happened, I labeled the
slides and put the official accession number on the labels. Of course,
this procedure would not work in the main lab. But when more than one
specimen of the same tissue comes in, in a row, isn't there an added
code digit used, added to the accession number, to indicate like
specimens, and to keep each of the same tissue cases in
sequence??---This must alert the histotechs to the problem and keep
these cases straight.  When the histotech starts to cut, it would be the
first thing to do to sort the blocks, and spot the same-tissue cases and
identify them on their slides, and to alert them to the need for extra
care in sectioning, marking the slides, and avoiding mix ups.
.georgecole <@t> ev1.net      .      
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