[Histonet] Re: Diff-Quik

[Johnson, Teri]

Dear Colleagues,

At the risk of beating a dead horse, I would like to thank Bryan Llewellyn for so eloquently and succinctly echoing my own thoughts on the matter that Dr. Richmond commented on which has drawn criticism. For those who may have missed it, I'll include it below my own meager response.

Teri Johnson, HT(ASCP)QIHC
Managing Director, Histology Facility
Stowers Institute for Medical Research
Kansas City, MO


Date: Wed, 27 Jan 2010 13:57:16 -0800
From: "Bryan Llewellyn" <llewllew <@t> shaw.ca>
Subject: Re: [Histonet] Re: Diff-Quik
To: "Histonet" <histonet <@t> lists.utsouthwestern.edu>
Message-ID: <26938660D7E848FAA055BCB0A76DF8BB <@t> BryanPC>
Content-Type: text/plain; format=flowed; charset="iso-8859-1";
        reply-type=original

I have worked in several laboratories, both in Canada and England.  I
trained there and was taught by technologists, not pathologists, to check
the staining of all my slides, which I have always done.  I finds that even
when asked, most pathologists do not return poorly stained slides, yet how
can we know of deficiencies if they do not?

I worked in several histology labs over my career and slides were checked in
all but two.  I was able to introduce it in one of those, but not in the
other due to technologist resistance (we've always done it that way).  It
was the technologists who resisted it.

I don't see why Dr. Richmond needs to apologise.  He merely drew attention
to his work experiences in numerous histology labs and decried what is, in
his experience, a common practice.  In other words, he spoke about real,
actual events.  Why does being truthful require an apology?  Are our egos so
fragile that we can't take valid criticism as a profession nor as
individuals?  He certainly did not accuse those who got upset of failing to
check slides, so why take umbrage?  Noting and decrying poor histological
practices should be a concern for everyone.  Surely we are concerned about
service to patients not about our egos.

Bryan Llewellyn