[Histonet] Re: Two Patient Identifiers on slides

[Bob Richmond]

Realizing we're talking about regulator compliance rather than good sense
here - nonetheless let a pathologist observe that having the patient's name
on the slide is a very important defense against mixing up cases at
sign-out. Small labs still usually have no identifier on the slide other
than a hand-scribbled accession number (two of the three small labs I'm
working in at the moment don't - both CAP accredited), and it's easy for
the pathologist to misread the label. I saw a mixup like this just a few
days ago - it wasn't my case, but I should have caught the misreading when
I reviewed the case, which involved a squamous carcinoma that wasn't.

Good management, bad medicine.

Bob Richmond
Samurai Pathologist
Maryville TN