[Histonet] floaters - thisisann@aol.com

[Cheryl]

Hi Ann-
 
May we assume you've confirmed this is happening at embedding and have ruled out any floaters happening during cutting?
 
When embedding, keep Kimwipes or other tissues around, keep the wells closed and only pull out enough cassettes that you can keeep clean and clear of your working area.  Wipe forceps and surfaces between blocks containing fragmented or friable tissue, don't put forceps back in the wells without wiping. You can stack a few guaze pads on top of the spout to wipe as you replace the forceps and change the pads frequently.   Always, always only open one cassettte at a time and never leave the station with an open cassette on the station.  Finish before standing or recap and replace.  
 
If you are working with currettes, cell blocks, or other cellular, friable tissue, open and unwrap on a clean surface (hot or cold - embedding station surface or wipe or l'absorb) and don't reuse the surface before wiping or replacing.  If you're using knives or scalpels to scrape, make sure the handles and connection points aren't harboring residual tissue. Buy those little seamless paring knive from the dollar store--they fit in the wells and wipe easily.  Use swabs between embedding sessions or between people trading places to clean the wells and then clean them again at the end of the embedding session.  
 
If you keep molten paraffin in the hold bins, filter or replace frequently and do not reuse.  If you keep the hold bins dry, clean routinely (daily)  Clean your molten wax chamber periodically to remove contaminants and keep the filter from clogging over time. Most embedding station mfc don't condone running xylene through the tubes & pumps--clean hot wax will do the job.
 
We always make it the responsibility of each person to clean both at the end of embedding AND to clean again before starting to fully assure the wells and surfaces were clear and eliminate a possible cross if one person in the chain forgets...double system processes like you double check specimen IDs. 
 
You'll go through a whole bunch of kimwipes--but they are much cheaper than gauze and SOOO much better than a cross contamination situation.  IF it still happens, it's time to track who embeds each block to see if there's a pattern by person.  The point is not to write people up but to support developing clean habits and to adjust their habits to do it to their best ability.  
 
Wipe wipe wipe wipe wipe!!  Hope this helps!

Cheryl Kerry, HT(ASCP) 
Full Staff Inc. 
Staffing the AP Lab by helping one GREAT Tech at a time.  
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