[Histonet] RE: Should I leave histology world

Thu Jun 5 08:21:59 CDT 2014

I agree with Tim.  Take a part-time job doing what you need to work on if possible.  When my embedding skills needed to be enhanced, I took a job embedding early mornings.  One time I took a job cutting for about 2 years, and that helped my speed.  I still am not the best cutter, but my speed increased and my errors decreased.  
In your current lab, ask for help from other techs as to setting goals and meeting deadlines.  Make it a game, not to  be taking risks and possibly injuring yourself, but a little friendly competition could help.
My students compete with each other to see who can finish fastest, with the least amount of errors, and the winner doesn't do the dishes that next day.
Remember, this is your livelihood, so you need to find out how to increase your speed and not sacrifice quality.  You should set up a time daily to develop your technique and work on it.  Even if you have to switch duties to get this done, your manager should support you to keep you.  Find out what is slowing you down, is your station not set-up properly, do you not have all the tools needed, are the blocks embedded correctly, is the angle correct?  This can slow you down without you realizing it.  Create your own technique and make it great.  I never could line up sections side-by-side on slide for biopsies, so I just began to cut my ribbons longer and picked sections up in pairs.  It worked for me. 
Anything helps!!
Good luck.
Sincerely,

Toysha N. Mayer, MBA, HT(ASCP)
tnmayer <@t> mdanderson.org
Instructor/Education Coordinator
Program in Histotechnology
School of Health Professions
MD Anderson Cancer Center
713-563.3481

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Message: 12
Date: Tue, 3 Jun 2014 16:34:51 -0400
From: Alpha Histotech <optimusprimehistotech <@t> hotmail.com>
Subject: [Histonet] Should I leave histology world
To: "histonet <@t> lists.utsouthwestern.edu"
	<histonet <@t> lists.utsouthwestern.edu>
Message-ID: <BAY181-W7228DB71617011D89C0786B6230 <@t> phx.gbl>
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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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Message: 13
Date: Tue, 3 Jun 2014 21:00:02 +0000
From: "Nails, Felton" <flnails <@t> texaschildrens.org>
Subject: RE: [Histonet] Should I leave histology world
To: Alpha Histotech <optimusprimehistotech <@t> hotmail.com>,
	"histonet <@t> lists.utsouthwestern.edu"
	<histonet <@t> lists.utsouthwestern.edu>
Message-ID:
	<327E034F1892504289B7A17EC71DF9F30B5FDF <@t> TCFMSG03.ad.texaschildrenshospital.org>

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I always tell my students if you can cut, you can get a job. It appears that you school did not properly prepare you for the demands of an average histology job.
You need to take every opportunity to work on your craft and the major focus of histology is cutting. With 6 to 7 years of experience you are expected to know the basics and cutting is basic.

Date: Tue, 3 Jun 2014 21:28:50 +0000 (UTC)
From: nmhisto <@t> comcast.net
Subject: Re: [Histonet] Should I leave histology world
To: Felton Nails <flnails <@t> texaschildrens.org>
Cc: HISTONET <histonet <@t> lists.utsouthwestern.edu>
Message-ID:
	<599903481.2425987.1401830930956.JavaMail.root <@t> comcast.net>
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Felton, I disagree!?? The training this tech underwent must obviously have??covered basic histology but you cannot guarantee??that a trained student will find a laboratory that will give him/her the opportunity to develop speed while not sacrificing quality. Having the training does not warrant that the new tech will be able to cut a certain number of blocks per hour to satisfy the demands of an employer's??spreadsheet mentality.?? A good laboratory manager will make it possible for that "newbie" to have the time at the microtome (or the embedding station, etc.) to develop the speed that comes with an experienced eye.?? Providing that newly-minted tech the time necessary just makes sense to the employer and the tech.????Realizing full well (after 40+ years as an HT) that this is not a perfect world and that other factors weigh heavily, encouragement pays off in quality, quantity and loyalty.?? Perhaps what Alpha Histotech needs to do (if the lab manager is an open-minded, logical individual) is to discuss this issue with that manager and allow the manager to understand that this new tech has the enthusiasm but needs "time in grade".?? This is too critical an issue to begin to lose techs (as few as there are coming into the field) by an employer's requirement to produce quantity without the absolute necessity of quality. 
Regards to all! 

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