[Histonet] cassette/slide labeling and Vantage system

[Gagnon, Eric]

Hi Carol,
 
We too have implemented the Ventana Vantage system.  While it doesn't necessarily directly increase throughput, the greatest benefit is time you don't realize is being saved.  All that running around trying to correct incorrectly-labeled slides, block mixups and cases that escape through all your current error-traps and make it to the pathologist, only to be brought back to be remedied.  That huge waste of time is gone.  
 
Of course, it's still possible to place the wrong slide label on the wrong slide at microtomy.  There are process steps to minimize this, but it is possible.   For slide labelling at microtomy, it is a time saving, plus reduces writer's cramp.  There is no way to label half your blocks on a case with the wrong case number or block numbers.
 
It is also a huge benefit when cutting special stains or IHC.  The stains/markers ordered by the pathologist appear as labels to print.  If a different block than the one requested is scanned, those labels just do not appear, so that's an indication an error may be about to happen if you proceed.
 
It can also be used as a means of monitoring individual productivity. As each user signs in to a workstation and scans a block at microtomy, embedding etc, this is tracked by user and time of day.
 
I would recommend it.  
 
Hope this helps,
 
Eric Gagnon MLT
Histology Laboratory
Kingston General Hospital
Kingston, Ontario, Canada