[Histonet] a question on ethics

Fri Aug 13 10:14:34 CDT 2004

Actually, the hospital where I worked for the last year called it
"Performance Improvement" also. I do not think they care much about what
you call it as long as you have a well defined and documented plan in
place.
Marsha

On Fri, 13 Aug 2004 08:36:18 -0500 Gary Gill <garygill <@t> dcla.com> writes:
> Current CLIA has replaced quality assurance with quality assessment 
> as the
> preferred term.
> 
> Gary Gill
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Marsha R Price [mailto:mprice26 <@t> juno.com] 
> Sent: Friday, August 13, 2004 8:28 AM
> To: pathrm35 <@t> adelphia.net
> Cc: histonet <@t> lists.utsouthwestern.edu
> Subject: Re: [Histonet] a question on ethics
> 
> 
> 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
> > _______________________________________________
> > Histonet mailing list
> > Histonet <@t> lists.utsouthwestern.edu
> > http://lists.utsouthwestern.edu/mailman/listinfo/histonet
> > 
> > 
> 
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