[Histonet] block cutting protocols

[Orr, Rebecca]

Our IHC lab has 3 techs and our Histo Lab has 12 Techs....so we have a
fairly large number to compare and NO ONE in our facility does this!

As much as I have never seen any CAP regulation, I would  not permit the
practice of running more than one block of ribbons on the water bath...
I believe that is a fundamental practice taught from the beginning of a
Histo-tech's training. 
Besides the opportunity to pick up the wrong slide, there is
contamination... the surface of the water bath should be inspected
and/or "swiped" to rid of any previous particles after each ribbon....

You'd need to decide what is riskier...saving some time or sending a
slide to a doc that has a part of another case on it.
The answer is obvious.

Becky Orr CLA,HT(ASCP)
IHC Lead 
Evanston Northwestern Healthcare
847-570-2771
 

-----Original Message-----
From: Histology SLU [mailto:sluhisto <@t> yahoo.com]
Sent: Monday, October 17, 2005 9:05 AM
To: histonet <@t> lists.utsouthwestern.edu
Subject: [Histonet] Block cutting protocols


Hello All:
 
I hope that you all won't "flame" me with this question.  I do not want
to
offer any information yet as to why I am asking.  I want your responses
to
be unbiased by the circumstances for which I am asking.
 
The question:
 
Do any of you techs cutting clinical paraffin embedded blocks, lay out
multiple ribbons from multiple blocks on your water bath at one time and
then pick up your sections for each block?  
 
I would like tech and supervisor responses please.  Thanks so much.  You
guys are always such a help.
 
Susan