[Histonet] RE: Qualifications for grossing

[Nicole Tatum]

Yupp he strikes again.


Joanne,

I strongly agree with your perspective. Many Techs do not have formal
expensive educations and have sat on the bench for many years and
eventually became grandfathered in. Those techs are the life blood of
pathology. It has only been in recent years that licensure has become a
larger part of health care requiring personal to obtain certification to
"hopefully" increase patient care. But, this argument is becoming a thing
of the past, because CLIA, CAP, JOCA have set standards that personal must
meet regardless of the extensive OJT. I am qualified to gross based on
these accrediators standards. It is others opinions that think these
"standards" are weak. If the argument is greed, than people should
understand that employee payroll is the highest cost within a laboratory
so to help cut cost to our bankrupt health care system, why not pay a
Histologist who is clearly qualified to do a job they have been doing
since the beginning of pathology.


The pathologists’ assistant profession began in 1969 with a pilot training
program at the Veterans Administration Medical Center (VAMC) in Durham,
North Carolina.

In 1856 William Perkin discovered the dye mauve that was used in the early
1860s by F W B Benke of Marlbery. Joseph Janavier Woodward, a surgeon in
the US Army, used fuchsine and aniline blue to stain human intestines.
Paul Ehrlich realized that the chemical dyes obtained from coal tar did
not simply color cells but combined with the chemical elements within them
to form new substances. The Swiss chemist Friedrich Miescher, in 1869 used
aniline dyes to examine the cell nucleus. In 1875 Carl Weigart, Ehrlich's
cousin, demonstrated the fuchsine derivative methyl violet stained
bacteria as opposed to tissue.

The first histologist, Marcello Malpighi (1628-1694), an Italian
anatomist, is in fact considered the true “Father of Histology”.

1819, A. Mayer created the term Histology. In the sequence of the previous
word tissue, made use of two classical Greek root words (histos = tissue
and logos = study

So, my point is I do believe Histo's have been involved since the very
beginning. We as a profession have a combined experience well beyond that
of any formal education.

Last thought, and I quote, "I know I would make mistakes, and mistakes may
be considered part of the learning process, but do we really want to
accept that in  health care? Mistakes should happen in school, not with a
real, live patients tissue."

This statement clearly conflicts with all aspect of becoming a medical
professional. Our state/government funded hospitals employ thousands of
residents each year who treat thousands of indigent and paying patients.
This is their school. Histologist do interships within hospitals to get
training. This is their school to. Nurses, MLT's, MA's, everyone in health
care learns the actual (beyond books)trade from watching and working with
skilled persons who have many years of experience. They would not place a
student with a person who has a degree but no experience. My education
qualifies me to be trained by anyone in my field of pathology, and I
should be used where my skills will best serve my department and increase
patient care. Each one of us serves a purpose and is valuable, no matter
what job we perform with what amount of education. The law is weeding out
those who are no longer qualified to work in out field, they set the
standard. Let's let them make the decisions on who is qualified to do what
and stick together to ensure its fair to each one of us.

Can't we all just get along...hehehehehe

Nicole Tatum HT, ASCP