[Histonet] a question on ethics

[Gary Gill]

Read about the fiasco at Maryland General Hospital, which appears to
parallel your situation:

http://www.hhs.gov/asl/testify/t040518.html

Get thee to your organization's compliance officer.  The behaviors you
described put everyone at risk.  Your organization's compliance policy
should include no retribution for those who report compliance problems in
good faith.


Gary Gill
Corporate Compliance Officer

-----Original Message-----
From: Rebecca Barnhart [mailto:rbarnhart <@t> summithealth.org] 
Sent: Friday, August 13, 2004 9:39 AM
To: histonet <@t> lists.utsouthwestern.edu
Subject: Re: [Histonet] a question on ethics


Ron,
I feel for you.  I thought the mistakes in my lab were bad but nothing
compared to yours.  We just have some secretaries that have more important
things to do then their jobs.  I agree with everyone else talk to your
manager one last time and keep going up the ladder until someone listen and
does something. We are medical professionals and the mistakes you mentioned
are totally unacceptable.  Why are the pathologist not in an up roar?  I
know if our pathologist would get slides mislabeled, find out of slides
being mislabeled or any of the mistakes in your lab he
would not take it lightly and would be taking action himself.   

Marsha
Can you email me your QA plan manual.  I have been working on this in my lab
and have some items in place but I would love to see your ideas.


Thanks
Becky

>>> Marsha R Price <mprice26 <@t> juno.com> 8/13/2004 9:28:03 AM >>>
Ron,
You need to have an Quality Assurance Plan in place. That is an CAP
checklist question. I have a manual with logs etc. that you can have a copy
of. It can be customized for your lab. You can turn this lab around with a
well defined QA Program. QA is not an option it is a must/requirement if you
are a CLIA or CAP certified  lab.

Let me know if you would like a copy of the manual. It was done on Word. So
I can send to you electronically and you can make changes to it.

Marsha Price

On Fri, 13 Aug 2004 04:27:14 -0500 "Ron Martin" <pathrm35 <@t> adelphia.net>
writes:
> Fellow techs,
> I am in a difficult situation and need some serious advice. I
> recently (4 months ago) accepted a technical supervisor position in 
> a dermatology lab. I went from a bench tech at my old job to this 
> position. I also walked away from a raise at my old position so I 
> could step into a supervision position. I took the new position 
> because I was told by my manager that she would teach me some 
> supervision, management and financial skills that I currently do not

> have as well as the growth potential of the company.This position is

> not what I was told it would be. Part of my "duties" include
> emptying the trash, clean the bathroom  (not happening) and taking 
> her personal and professional calls. The question on ethics is the 
> high volume of mistakes made by our technician, our offices and also

> by my manager herself.
> I caught a mistake made by our tech a few weeks ago.She put the
> wrong tissue on the wrong slides as she inverted the two cases. I 
> caught her mistake before it went out. One time she assigned the 
> same number to two different cases. She then sent the correct case 
> out for a consult (which wasn't needed) and put the wrong patient 
> name on the slide. Every other day there is something different.My 
> manager will not terminate her as she knows I am seeking employment 
> elsewhere and she cannot afford to lose a tech.
> One day my manager gave three cases the same accession number.She 
> caught her mistake on one of the cases but I still ended up with two

> cases with the same number. When I first started there my manager
> had a case in which there " was no tissue in the container". She 
> said that she notified the office about the situation however up to 
> six weeks later the office was still calling looking for results.At 
> that point she wrote up an incident report and dated it six weeks 
> prior to coincide with the surgery date.
> Our offices are not any better. One case came in with the wrong 
> patient information. It took about 7 weeks for the office to realize

> that they sent the wrong patient information with the biopsy as the
> names were close in spelling.  The offices continually send mistakes

> with incorrect spelling of patients names and incorrect anatomical
> locations.
>  I have tired to document everything but there are too many mistakes

> and I don't have enough time or energy to keep up with them.My
> manager wants us to do our own "internal quality control". My 
> interpretation of this is that she doesn't want our physician and 
> risk manager to know of these mistakes. Are these becoming common 
> problems or is it just my situation?
> I want to emphasize that I hope I am not being unethical myself for 
> revealing this information but I really need some advice and 
> support.I have very high standards and they are not being met in 
> this current situation. I am currently seeking a new position but I 
> need employment and cannot resign until another position becomes 
> available. I would like to stay in Florida and if anyone knows of 
> any positions please inform me as I am at my wits end. Thanks in 
> advance.
> 
> Ron
> _______________________________________________
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> Histonet <@t> lists.utsouthwestern.edu 
> http://lists.utsouthwestern.edu/mailman/listinfo/histonet 
> 
> 

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