[Histonet] (no subject)

[Bauer, Karen L.]

Rhonda,

We keep our empty biopsy containers for one week and then dispose of
them in a red bag.  There are no "recommendations" that I know of, but
we started doing it because there was a mix up with a biopsy case and we
couldn't figure out if the nurse had put the specimens in the wrong
labeled containers or if we labeled the containers wrong.  If we had the
containers to match it with, then we would have known where the mistake
happened.

It's helped us quite a few times since then.  We find that most of the
problems occur by nurses pre-labeling the containers and then putting
the specimen in the wrong labeled container.  Mostly GI biopsies, so the
docs can tell the difference when looking through the microscope and
then tell us that specimens were switched.  When we look through our
empty containers, we can see that we labeled everything up correctly and
gross descriptions match the tissue slides, so we did everything
correctly and the specimens must have been put in the wrong containers.


Errors are usually caught the next day, so we probably don't have to
save containers for a week.  It's just easier to remember when we write
a dump day tag on the bucket we store them in.

Hope this helps,

Karen

Karen L. Bauer HT/HTL (ASCP)
Histology Section Chief
Department of Pathology - Luther Hospital
Luther Midelfort - Mayo Health System
bauer.karen <@t> mayo.edu

-----Original Message-----
From: histonet-bounces <@t> lists.utsouthwestern.edu
[mailto:histonet-bounces <@t> lists.utsouthwestern.edu] On Behalf Of Hartz,
Rhonda SktnHR
Sent: Tuesday, June 22, 2010 4:55 PM
To: histonet <@t> lists.utsouthwestern.edu
Subject: [Histonet] (no subject)

Hi.  This is my first time, so I apologize if I am not clear enough.  We
have had a request from one of our pathologists to retain empty specimen
containers after grossing is complete.  Is anyone aware of any
recommendations, or does anyone out there retain their empty specimen
containers?

Rhonda Hartz
Technologist Supervisor
Anatomic Pathology Division
Saskatoon Health Region
(306) 655-8197
rhonda.hartz <@t> saskatoonhealthregion.ca

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