[Histonet] Re: Basis for Quality Work in a Histotech

[joelle weaver]

Good suggestion, Deming's PDCA is a good, straightforward framework to begin with.




Joelle Weaver MAOM, HTL (ASCP) QIHC
 > Date: Sun, 16 Dec 2012 11:50:37 -0500
> From: rsrichmond <@t> gmail.com
> To: histonet <@t> lists.utsouthwestern.edu
> Subject: [Histonet] Re: Basis for Quality Work in a Histotech
> 
> Travis Troyer at Peterson Laboratory Servcies in Manhattan, Kansas
> (Hey, one of my grandfathers was born there!) asks: >>This is a
> question for all of the lab supervisors. I am the supervisor of two
> histotechs. I am not doing techwork now, but have 10 years of
> experience. The pathologists are getting more and more upset at the
> lack of quality in the work and the mistakes that are happening. I was
> wondering if anyone had some ideas on what sort of a goal to set up
> and how to reward/punish for variations from that goal. For example,
> if the goal is three mistakes for the month, what is the best way to
> reward them for making that goal and what would be best if they had
> more mistakes in a given time frame. We are all feeling the budget
> crunch and the pathologists are trying to figure out a good
> solution.<<
> 
> Well, speaking as a small-lab pathologist, what I'd want to do is tell
> you exactly what the "lack of quality" and the "mistakes" I'm seeing
> are. Some of them, like specimen mixups and errors in accessioning,
> would be your problem to get right. With problems like bad microtomy
> and faulty staining, I'd want to look at a lot of slides with you (a
> double-headed microscope is needed for this purpose, and I'm guessing
> you haven't got one). Then I'd want you to look at those slides with
> your two histotechs. This daily process would go on for a long time,
> perhaps permanently. If you were out of the office, I'd want to do the
> daily review directly with one of the histotechs.
> 
> I hold the perhaps naive belief that people will do good work if they
> have good equipment and know what's expected of them and get feedback
> (both positive and negative. I'd a lot rather tell a histotech "Hey,
> you really pulled this patient's diagnosis out of the fire for me"
> than "This GI biopsy slide is so chattery I can't interpret it.")
> 
> One of the great follies of Good Management is that people are pairs
> of hands who just need to be made to work-to-rule. If you don't know
> who Edwards Deming was, look him up in Wikipedia.
> 
> Bob Richmond
> Samurai Pathologist
> Maryville TN
> 
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