[Histonet] Grossing Pay- Saturdays

[peptolab]

We have a per diem tech who comes in Saturdays and embeds, cuts, stains, and
coverslips our entire Friday workload- from 40 to 100 blocks per day. This
is nice since it gives my tech and a half a day to catch up on chores with
virtually no histo other than specials or recuts- the pathologists like it
too since they can read at the time they arrive.

As for grossing- if someone is just pouring endoscopic biosies and
curettings into cassettes- I don't think a pay differential is indicated.
Appendices, gall bladders, simple skin lesions and especially placentas  in
the mix  deserves a moderate  salary differential. However, if , after
conferring with the pathologist, they are grossing  colectomies, evaluating
margins in skin, breast, or soft tissue resections, or staging radical
surgeries for colon, breast, stomach, kidney, bladder, prostate, uterine and
lung  cancers with lymph node searches, then a substantial differential is
indicated along the lines of a PA's pay, especially if 50% or more of their
time is spent doing these "complex testing" duties.

Of course, I am prejudiced.
Jeff Silverman HT HTL QIHC (ASCP)
Pathologists' Assistant/Histology
Supervisor/Immunohistochemist/Histotech/Specimen Courrier and Schlepper in
chief/Laboratory Safety Officer
Southside Hospital
Bay Shore, NY