[Histonet] Re: Diff-Quik

[Robert Richmond]

I sort of apologize for this ill-natured comment, which long-term
readers of Histonet know I've made before.

I do locum tenens work, mostly in rather small pathology services -
I've worked in perhaps 60 of them in my life. Only rarely do I observe
that a histotech ever looks at a slide. I've just acquired a new
client with particularly difficult slides. The tech doesn't even have
a microscope.

The more quality assurance paperwork I have to do, the worse the slides.

The lack of feedback from pathologist to technologist is a really
widespread and serious problem. Most pathologists are completely
unwilling to take the time to do it, and the usage has never
established itself. It would be much easier if we had double headed
microscopes, which seem to be prohibited in small pathology services.

Did Edwards Deming live in vain?

Bob Richmond
Samurai Pathologist
Knoxville TN
*************************************
On Tue, Jan 26, 2010 at 9:03 AM, Cheri Miller <cmiller <@t> physlab.com> wrote:
> Every slide I stain, special stains, IHC or otherwise I check under the scope...I have taught all my techs to do the same, other than batches of  H&E and then we check the 1st slide in each rack. I know this to be a common procedure with many histology professionals. The attitude can be left in your lab please. Thank you
>
> Cheryl Miller HT ASCP CM
> Histology Supervisor
> Physicians Laboratory Services
> Omaha, NE. 402 731 4148
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: histonet-bounces <@t> lists.utsouthwestern.edu [mailto:histonet-bounces <@t> lists.utsouthwestern.edu] On Behalf Of Robert Richmond
> Sent: Monday, January 25, 2010 7:50 PM
> To: histonet <@t> lists.utsouthwestern.edu
> Subject: [Histonet] Re: Diff-Quik
>
> Thanks, John Kiernan, for your explanation of Romanovsky stains.
>
> "Diff-Quik" (please note the spelling) is the trademarked name of a
> staining sequence consisting of a fixative, eosin (Diff-Quik I), and
> an azure (Diff-Quik II), done in that order in three separate
> containers.  I'm not sure who the trademark presently belongs to - it
> seems to change with the phases of the Moon.
>
> There are a number of generic equivalents, which in my personal
> experience all work as well as trademark Diff-Quik. For most ordinary
> pathology services, it isn't worthwhile to try to brew your own.
>
> I don't think I've seen bone marrow stained with such a sequence.
> Proper staining of bone marrows requires that the histotechnologist
> examine the slides under a microscope, a practice too many find
> abhorrent.
>
> Bob Richmond
> Samurai Pathologist
> Knoxville TN