[Histonet] RE: Cutting of Paraffin Blocks

[Cooper, Brian]

Completely agree.  Give them practice tissue blocks because it's expected that they WILL destroy them during the early stages of their learning process.  

If I can go one further here--when these students have demonstrated acceptable microtomy technique (and when you feel comfortable), be sure to teach them how to realign their microtome's orientation head/specimen clamp to the surface of blocks that have been previously cut.    I cannot tell you how many histotechs I've met in my career who didn't possess this skill and simply "refaced" these blocks.   One even yelled at the Biomedical Maintenance tech when he serviced her microtome and readjusted the orientation!   

I have a student in our lab right now, and tasked her with providing me 5 H&E's from each of the practice blocks I gave her.  Here's the catch.  In between each section that she collects, she is supposed to completely misalign the specimen head, then realign to the surface of the block.  I told her that all five H&E's from each block should look relatively similar by the time she's done, and that there should be no appreciable tissue loss.  While this might seem like a torture test for beginners, it will only serve them (and ultimately the patients they serve) so well in the future. 

Thanks, 

Brian D. Cooper, HT (ASCP)CM | Histology Supervisor 
Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine
Children's Hospital Los Angeles 
4650 Sunset Blvd MS#43- Los Angeles, CA 90027 
Ph: 323.361.3357     Pager: 213-209-0184
bcooper <@t> chla.usc.edu 

-----Original Message-----
From: histonet-bounces <@t> lists.utsouthwestern.edu [mailto:histonet-bounces <@t> lists.utsouthwestern.edu] On Behalf Of Laurie Colbert
Sent: Wednesday, March 25, 2015 9:49 AM
To: Adesupo, Adesuyi (Banjo); 'histonet <@t> lists.utsouthwestern.edu'
Subject: [Histonet] RE: Cutting of Paraffin Blocks

Heck no, crack that whip!  Give them practice tissue that isn't important so they won't be afraid of ruining something.

Laurie Colbert, HT (ASCP)

-----Original Message-----
From: histonet-bounces <@t> lists.utsouthwestern.edu [mailto:histonet-bounces <@t> lists.utsouthwestern.edu] On Behalf Of Adesupo, Adesuyi (Banjo)
Sent: Wednesday, March 25, 2015 9:26 AM
To: 'histonet <@t> lists.utsouthwestern.edu'
Subject: [Histonet] Cutting of Paraffin Blocks

Hi,
   How are you guys doing? I hope you are all doing well. Please  I have two histology trainees and  they have spent more than six months in the histology lab and they cannot cut blocks yet. They are comfortable with filing slides and blocks.
But I have been telling them that they have to start cutting now. My question now is am I too hard on them?

Best regards,
Adesupo Adesuyi
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