[Histonet] Should I leave histology world

Wed Jun 4 10:46:57 CDT 2014

Rene is right that everyone needs to find what they are good at. We had a guy who was so-so in cutting speed and always getting flack for not doing enough. And had such a hard time coordinating specials and immunos that he just slowed things down.  Then we started doing Mega blocks of whole mount eyes and prostate and it turns out this guy is a savant at cutting large blocks. The pathologists were raving about how good the sections were. He  had a job as long as he wanted  in that lab just for that!

Tim Morken

-----Original Message-----
From: histonet-bounces <@t> lists.utsouthwestern.edu [mailto:histonet-bounces <@t> lists.utsouthwestern.edu] On Behalf Of Rene J Buesa
Sent: Wednesday, June 04, 2014 7:41 AM
To: Alpha Histotech; histonet <@t> lists.utsouthwestern.edu
Subject: Re: [Histonet] Should I leave histology world

You describe a common situation in histology where the pressure to finish the work on time (the TAT) reigns but that does not necessarily mean that quality has to be sacrificed, although sometimes it does.
On the other hand, not all histotechs are "created equal" and some have abilities others don't. Manual dexterity is a most and while some can section at the "normal" rate of 24 blocks/hour, other take twice the time, and it seems that you belong to the later group.
For what you wrote it seems that your embedding productivity (about 60 blocks/hour) is the "norm" and, again, others are less or more productive. You also point out that you have worked in 3 places in 6-7 years and that is a quite high turnover never conducent to improve your work and that can be hold "against you" in your Resumé when looking for another position.
A histology supervisor has to assure the slides are ready for the pathologists on a timely basis so one of the things that have to be done is to identify amongst the staff  "who does what best" meaning who can deliver quality in a timely basis.
I think that you, already in your late 20's, should start trying to answer several questions:
1- why did you in the first place decided to become a histotech and if that was a "wise" selection?
2- if you are experiencing the same problems in the 3 places where you worked, it seems clear to me that the issue is with you and not with the trade. It will be the same at least in these types of high volume labs where higher productivity are required.
If you really like histology and think that you need more training to achieve sectioning speed, you have to switch to another type of lab. Try to solicit work in a research or university lab where you will have enough time to train properly and where finishing the work "yesterday" is no usually a concern.
Also think that not all histotechs have the same ability or speed. I had supervised along my career as supervisor scores of histotechs and some just cannot section fast, it is not within their abilities but can excel in some other tasks. My duty was to detect the task that they could complete best and, without totally frustrating their lives, assign them to those tasks.
Also you could try to improve your speed on your own time, and demonstrate that you are also willing to try to improve.
So I think that it is time for you to do one of the following:
1- change career
2- change type of lab
3- adapt and adquire sectioning speed or
4- find amongst the many tasks that histology provide, the one where you can excel and at the same find satisfaction.
What you cannot do is to keep doing the same and expect to find satisfaction or obtain a different result given your ability.
Think hard and honestly what you want to do for the rest of your life that most likely will be long.
René J.  

On Tuesday, June 3, 2014 4:35 PM, Alpha Histotech <optimusprimehistotech <@t> hotmail.com> wrote:

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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