[Histonet] Breast Lecture

[Jasper, Thomas G.]

Hey Jim,

I think this is a very good idea.  Your comments about pregnancy made me think of "Clinical History/Information".  It is very  important to include this information for the Pathology department and too many times (in my opinion) it is excluded.  That applies to any tissue type as well.  Another thing is legible handwriting, unless your system is totally electronic and you are not receiving handwritten requisition forms.  It has boggled my mind for years at how little importance physicians (in general) place on clearly written information.  To me this is a big patient care issue.  Bad handwriting at the very least can slow down the processing of patient cases and at worst compromise their treatment.  If you can't write legibly try printing.  Again, this applies to all pathology specimens.
One other issue we've encountered is cramming too much specimen into too small a container.  This is especially bad after "normal" working hours or over a weekend.  There is no way anyone can expect proper fixation to occur in this situation.  Proper fixation is ultimately important for all specimens.  In breast cases it is particularly so as there are more and more immunohistochemical requests for these patients.  I'm sure I'm not telling you anything you don't already know or that most folks monitoring the Histonet don't know...but you asked.  Hopes this helps you some.
Regards,

Thomas Jasper HT (ASCP) BAS
Anatomic Pathology Supervisor
SMDC
Duluth, MN

-----Original Message-----
From: histonet-bounces <@t> lists.utsouthwestern.edu
[mailto:histonet-bounces <@t> lists.utsouthwestern.edu]On Behalf Of Jim Ball
Sent: Monday, August 28, 2006 8:38 AM
To: histonet <@t> lists.utsouthwestern.edu
Subject: [Histonet] Breast Lecture


      I have been ask to present a lecture on breast Biopsies  to the West 
Virginia Radiology Society.  I would like to give them some insight into the 
proper handling of the biopsies before they are brought to the histology 
department.  This will cover the most mundane items such as proper 
Demographics, proper labeling of the specimen, types of transport media, 
etc........, but while I was discussing this with a pathologist he mentioned 
it would be nice if the orders stated if the patient were pregnant or not.  
He was well aware he could look it up in the history, but felt it could save 
time if it were stated on the request.  This got me to thinking and my 
thoughts turned to histonet.  So if any of you would like to share some time 
saving protocols and procedures that I could review for the lecture please 
forward them to me and the NET.
      The title of the lecture will be "It's All UP Front".  I only include 
the title in hopes it will jog a few brain cells and you'll think of other 
areas that might contribute to the histology department being able to 
improve patient care if everything is done right in the beginning.  I would 
be very interested in knowing how you anticipate or should I say plan for 
the worst case scenario, since we usually have very small samples when it 
comes to needle biopsies.  I am looking for ways that maxamizes the sample 
for not only testing today, but also testing in the future.



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