[Histonet] Should I leave histology world

Wed Jun 4 06:45:55 CDT 2014

Yes thanks for the perspective. I have a bias towards my own experience, and this seems to be good advice. I work in a molecular based lab now and they are very unaware of what it typically is like in a clinical histopathology lab. Good to point other environments are out there that are clinical, and also that research in general can be very different than clinical settings. Some people are just more suited to certain environments over the other.  

Joelle Weaver MAOM, HTL (ASCP) QIHC

Date: Wed, 4 Jun 2014 01:32:11 +0000
From: koellingr <@t> comcast.net
To: joelleweaver <@t> hotmail.com
CC: timothy.morken <@t> ucsfmedctr.org; optimusprimehistotech <@t> hotmail.com; histonet <@t> lists.utsouthwestern.edu
Subject: Re: [Histonet] Should I leave histology world

Alpha Histotech-

I'll put in my few words even though I'm not active anymore and possibly from different perspective.  But also using a few assumptions and if my assumptions are wrong then the rest of what I say is probably meaningless.  Not IDíng your e-mail address but if you've worked 3 jobs nightshift including a large reference lab, do you live near a big city?  And if so is it a city close to a college or university.

Research histology should not be overlooked.  You will find many molecular or other such non-histo labs that actually do some or even a lot of histology by non-histology personnel or lab workers.  Sometimes it is OK, sometimes even great.  Sometimes, and I witnessed it, it is at an embarrassing histo level.  I can walk up or down university hallways and see a "genetics lab" or some other "molecular lab" and see a microtome or cryostat in there.  Sometimes those PI's will send histo work to a core lab.  Sometimes they don't want to pay per block so do it (and staining and IHC and FISH) themselves.  Someone with even minimal wide-ranging histo experience might be welcomed.

No timed block cutting counts.  Learn some immunology, genetics, molecular techniques, comparative medicine, physiology, etc, etc along the way.  Many places even pay for college level courses while employed there.

Just a thought if you are near that kind of area.

Ray in Seattle

From: "joelle weaver" <joelleweaver <@t> hotmail.com>
To: "Timothy Morken" <timothy.morken <@t> ucsfmedctr.org>, "Alpha Histotech" <optimusprimehistotech <@t> hotmail.com>, histonet <@t> lists.utsouthwestern.edu
Sent: Tuesday, June 3, 2014 5:55:09 PM
Subject: RE: [Histonet] Should I leave histology world

It would be a shame to get discouraged now after all the time you have already put into histology. If you still want to work in histology, I might suggest you try to have a conversation with a manager, supervisor or lead tech and see if they are willing to support you. Tell them you want to spend more time cuting to be able to section with high quality at the rate that works for their productivity standards.  If you present it as a win-win proposition, see what resources, people and time they are willing to "chip in"  to help get where they would like you to be. Make some metric or rate to achieve in microtomy your goal for the year, and put it into writing ( good for all goals:). 
Or if that is too uncomfortable , approach someone individually whose microtomy skills you admire , and see if they are willing to provide some tips and guidance off work time. 

I also went through a NAACLS program.  Still at my first "real" histology job , the realization that this was the actual training became apparent very quickly.  I had moments of exhaustion and feeling overwhelmed, but I now feel I was also fortunate to work initially at a pretty high volume place. It was a great "breaking in" for embedding and microtomy.   Luckily there were also some experienced techs there who saw how much I wanted to learn,  and were willing to help me get better. The "constructive" criticism stung sometimes, but they did me a huge service. But believe me,  not everyone was helpful or supportive along the way. Try to ignore those kind of people as much as possible. And I still get criticized sometimes, make mistakes, and I still have more to learn.

But here are a couple of other options for you to consider before you decide to leave, and what  I did to get more experience  when in your situation more quickly; 

Take on a second histology job that targets specific skills, tissue, or techniques you want more experience in. Believe me I have been criticized and misunderstood for this choice s well many times, but personally I do not regret any of those experiences now.

I also feel that small labs are nice to build well rounded skills since you are usually more of a "jack of all trades" and have less tendency to do one task over your whole shift from day to day. Sometimes you just have to identify the environment that is the right fit for you. 

Best of luck to you- and let us know how things turn out!

Joelle Weaver MAOM, HTL (ASCP) QIHC

> From: Timothy.Morken <@t> ucsfmedctr.org
> To: optimusprimehistotech <@t> hotmail.com; histonet <@t> lists.utsouthwestern.edu
> Date: Tue, 3 Jun 2014 22:51:31 +0000
> Subject: RE: [Histonet] Should I leave histology world
> CC: 
> 
> Alpha, it is clear to me, after 30+ years in the field, that some are born with the ability to cut fast AND do well at it. The rest of us just have to work harder at developing that skill. But it does take bench time to do it. A recent cache is that it takes 10,000 hours to become an absolute expert at something - that's about 5 years full time work. And that's just one skill. 
> 
> It sounds like you need some good teachers (ie, those who like to teach and like having their students do well). That would be the highest priority if you want to stay in the field as a bench tech.
> 
> If the factory job isn't working out why not look for a smaller lab in which you can get more extensive experience? I really value the fact that spent my first 11 years in a 4- person lab in which we did everything from grossing to histo to immunos to EM. It may pay less initially but may add more value to your lifetime career. 
> 
> 
> Tim Morken
> Supervisor, Histology, Electron Microscopy and Neuromuscular Special Studies
> UC San Francisco Medical Center
> San Francisco, CA
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: histonet-bounces <@t> lists.utsouthwestern.edu [mailto:histonet-bounces <@t> lists.utsouthwestern.edu] On Behalf Of Alpha Histotech
> Sent: Tuesday, June 03, 2014 1:35 PM
> To: histonet <@t> lists.utsouthwestern.edu
> Subject: [Histonet] Should I leave histology world
> 
> Hi everyone,
> 
> I wouldn't give too much detail information as the histology world is very small and everyone knows everyone.
> 
> I am in a dilemma. I have been a histotech (ASCP HT) for almost 6-7 yrs. I went to a NAACLS school and have a Associate in Science in Histology. In the 6-7 yrs I have changed jobs 3 times. All the jobs were graveyard shifts. The first place I worked for was Quest Diagnostics and I did a good 3 yrs. The other 2 places I won't mention and I currently still have a histology job. My problem is all the places I worked were factory style lab work and they all did derm work. In my career I really only embedded most of the time. I did occasional other stuff like special stains both by hand and using Dako Artisan and other things like cytology cytospin. But I never got to develop in cutting. My first job in quest..I maybe cutted one time for 2 or 3 weeks before they yanked me and put me back to embed. My 2nd job put me to cut the last 2 months (full 8hrs) I was working there. My current job I have been cutting since April 2014 ( but only 2-3hrs in the day and then I embed, I have been here now 1 yr, I was embedding most of the time before th cutting started). I was told by my director I need to speed up in cutting because corporate is asking why I am not increasing in speed. And if I don't speed up eventually then they will have to demote me to a lab aid and give me a pay cut. (where I work and the state I work in they have lab aids doing alot of stuff without being certified, it wasn't like that in the other state I am original from as you have to be state licensed and ascp) I sometimes laugh inside my head because before my director hired me I told him I don't have alot experience in cutting. 
> 
> Now everywhere I have gone...speed is the name of the game. They say they care about quality but in the end if you can't put up then you will be put out!  So I am just thinking I should just get out of histology world all together. Every where I have worked unfortunately have management who believe quantity over quality. OR Do you guys think I need more time cutting to develop speed? Beforehand I did need a little learning curve to cut and I have gotten through that now. It's just the speed that is killing me. And I also see if anyone at my work detours me for any reason like for example data entry person from front desk ask for missing gross dictation, then that lost time is very hard to recover as I am not soooo fast to recover. I feel I may have to become very rude(not help) with everyone I work around in order to stay glued to my seat when I am cutting my blocks. One thing I want to say also...until this day I never been written up for quality issues and I never lost any tissue while embedding. Embedding I am fast as most histotech (1 block a min or most times 30-45 secs 1 block) with proper embedding techniques demonstrated (tissue on same plane, tissue embedded with proper orientation and follow any other necessary embedding instructions. ) I just feel I haven't done my time in cutting as I did in embedding to become a fast cutter. I don't know if its because of working in a derm lab that management won't wait too long for you to develop like maybe a hospital lab may do. I was also thinking to find another histo job but not mention any of my experience so expectation won't be so high and I can get more time to develop. All of this also causes alot of stress and anxiety as it gets hard to coop with.  What do you guys think and how I should go about with this. I am also not limited to histology. I have expertise in 2 other major fields that I wont mention because I don't want to be identified.  I am also in my late 20's. Thanks for reading my post and I await your opinions as some of you all are veterans in the field of histology.
> 
> Thank you
> Alpha Histotech (ASCP HT)
> 
> 
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