[Histonet] Organizing of cassettes for processing

[bamoe <@t> gundluth.org]

Hi all -

For those that do batch overnight processing, how do you organize the
cassettes?

Currently we have 2 path assistants that gross throughout the day, and each
puts their cassettes as they are grossed into a bucket of formalin.  At the
end of the day a histotech drains the formalin off, rinses the cassettes in
water, then manually puts the cassettes into order according to our
worklist, with rush cases being put up front.  The baskets are then loaded
onto the tissue processor (Sakura VIP5 and VIP6).

We are wondering if there are some other ideas of how to streamline this
process.  One thought was to have the cassettes loaded/organized into the
tissue processing basket as they are grossed, but have a concern about
formalin exposure while doing this.

 Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated.

Barb Moe
Gundersen Lutheran Medical Center
La Crosse WI