[Histonet] Productivity Issues

[Julie.Sanders <@t> med.va.gov]

Greetings Histonetters,

I have a question about what are reasonable expectations for productivity.
For example, if the majority of work done are biopsies, prostate needle bxs,
livers, bone marrows and kidney biopsies is embedding 80 blocks an hour and
cutting 40 per hour reasonable?  Keep in mind that the bone marrows, livers,
and kidneys require special stains/immunos and prostate bxs require 4 slides
each.

I read the article in NSH Journal about productivity and tried (and failed)
to figure out what would be reasonable expectations from my techs for
embedding and cutting.  I wanted to include all the tasks required: labeling
slides, facing blocks, cutting biopsies and cutting routine.  I tried by
adding all the numbers in the article (The Journal of Histotechnology,Vol.
27, No.4/ Dec. 2004) but obviously I'm not mathematically inclined.
Any ideas/suggestions/answers would be greatly appreciated!
Thanks,
Julie

Julie Sanders, BA,HT(ASCP)
Supervisor, Anatomic Pathology
VAMC, Cincinnati, Ohio