[Histonet] Productivity Tracking

Sun Jul 7 19:49:13 CDT 2019

I think there is a MOST important aspect left out of this discussion. . . QUALITY. The point is never how fast you can perform a task, but rather at what pace can you consistently produce quality work. Inferior or unacceptable slides will increase cost, in time and money, 4 to 10 times. Quality and productivity goals MUST be strongly linked or the patient suffers!!!

William DeSalvo
________________________________
From: Jay Lundgren <jaylundgren at gmail.com>
Sent: Sunday, July 7, 2019 1:20:56 PM
To: jasonhauser71 at gmail.com
Cc: WILLIAM DESALVO; Pairan, Kelly; histonet at lists.utsouthwestern.edu
Subject: Re: [Histonet] Productivity Tracking

As I pointed out, management can incentivize this any way they want.  You could give raises, or you could say a tech is not eligible for a raise until they can cut at a certain rate. The idea is to bring the slower cutters up to speed, not get rid of them.  Based on my experience, if you isolate and identify the malingerers, they will most likely speed up of their own accord.  Most people will stop their BS once they realize everyone is on to them.  The majority of people like to belong to a group, and don't like to be thought of as being bad at their job.

Only if they absolutely refuse to try to speed up would you start the process of getting rid of them, and only in certain situations.  We're talking the truly toxic employee.

At least this way, the slower cutters don't slow down your whole workflow, and it attempts to ensure some fairness in the amount of cutting each tech does.  Also, you don't have to burden the faster cutters with more paperwork for productivity reporting, not to mention the hours it will take for management to collate and interpret the data.  It just takes someone counting the slides daily, which takes a couple of minutes tops.

But your comment is a good example.  Eventually, if everyone is not pulling together, the faster techs will start feeling taken advantage of, and change their own attitude towards work as well.

Why would you feel that you are "getting saddled" with critical work, rather than feeling proud that management has recognized your talent and is utilizing it efficiently to improve patient care?   Do you feel like its more work to cut 60 slides of bxs, specials, and IHCs (say, 10 blocks) than 60 slides of routine surgicals (60 blocks)? Personally, I'd rather cut the bxs.

On Sun, Jul 7, 2019 at 2:02 PM jasonhauser71 at gmail.com<mailto:jasonhauser71 at gmail.com> <jasonhauser71 at gmail.com<mailto:jasonhauser71 at gmail.com>> wrote:
Really? If I am the faster cutter getting saddled with the more critical work, I would expect better pay than the slower cutter relegated to routine work.
 If one managesfrom the standpoint of individual productivity- one will never be satisfied. The slowest and least produ tive can be fired or laid off...that just means there is a new victim

Jason Hauser
Sr. Histology Tecnician, MLT
The South Bend Clinic
South Bend Indiana

------ Original message------
From: Jay Lundgren
Date: Sat, Jul 6, 2019 2:12 PM
To: WILLIAM DESALVO;
Cc: Pairan, Kelly;histonet at lists.utsouthwestern.edu<mailto:;histonet at lists.utsouthwestern.edu>;
Subject:Re: [Histonet] Productivity Tracking

By the way, the standard for graduation from AFIP was 30 blocks/hr.

Don't count blocks, count *slides*.

If you have people slacking, you really need to start action to get rid of
them.  One rotten apple ruins the whole bunch.  Google the new research on
toxic personalities in the workplace.

But if you want to try to bring them up to speed, try this: (Assuming one
processing run, but the principle still applies.)

1)Someone takes the day's worksheet, and counts the number of slides to be
cut, including recuts, special stains, IHC's and everything.   So,
according to your protocol, (numbers made up for example) 1 GI block=3
slides, an IHC panel= 10 slides, a routine tonsil block=1 slide, a bone
marrow block, with specials and unstained slides=20 slides

2)Divide the number of slides to be cut by the number of cutters.

3)Distribute the blocks equally based on number of *slides *to be cut per
tech.  Now obviously, you're going to want to give your biopsies, recuts,
specials and IHCs to your quickest cutters, and on down the line, in order
of priority, to the slower cutters.  If you only have 2 cutters, one person
is going to cut all the bxs and specials and a few routines, and the other
person will cut the bulk of the routines.

This daily routine achieves 3 things.

 1) It keeps the slower cutters from slowing down your more critical
workflow.
 2) It removes any benefit from slacking, because it attempts to ensure
that everyone is doing the same amount of work, at least as far as cutting
goes.
3) Most importantly, it identifies and isolates anyone who is cutting
slower, because they will still be sitting there cutting while everyone
else is done.

While this might seem cruel, most humans are very group oriented.  If the
slower cutters are experienced cutter who are sandbagging, they will
usually pick up their pace.

If someone is inexperienced and trying to get faster, that's OK, and you
can focus on trying to help them get faster.

A very small minority of people might be happy to sit there and cut their
routines as slowly as possible, and you have to decide whether or not to
start the process of getting rid of people like that. At least dividing the
cutting like this avoids them slowing down your workflow too much.

You can carrot and stick this however you want.  I see you are a histology
supervisor, so I'm assuming it's actually stick/stick. (j/k :))  Maybe not
let anyone go to lunch until all the cutting is done?  Let the fastest
cutters leave 30 min early on a Friday? Send a clear message that it's not
OK just to slack, you want everyone working to their potential.

On Fri, Jul 5, 2019 at 12:59 PM WILLIAM DESALVO via Histonet <
histonet at lists.utsouthwestern.edu<mailto:%0Dhistonet at lists.utsouthwestern.edu>> wrote:

> I suggest you use slides created for the microtomy minimum standard. Not
> all blocks are created equal. A good target is 30 slides per hour, for
> mixed specimens. If all specialty, then adjust from the 30.
>
> William DeSalvo
> ________________________________
> From: Pairan, Kelly via Histonet
> Sent: Friday, July 5, 2019 8:41:28 AM
> To: histonet at lists.utsouthwestern.edu<mailto:+histonet at lists.utsouthwestern.edu>
> Subject: [Histonet] Productivity Tracking
>
> Good Morning Histoland,
> How are you tracking your histotechs productivity when it comes to
> cutting?  We recently have implemented a 25 block per hour goal for all of
> our histotechs and are receiving some push back.  I made 25 block per hour
> the goal based on the following article that has been circulating for many
> years (
> https://www.researchgate.net/publication/41942535_Productivity_standards_for_histology_laboratories).
> While I do not want to compromise quality, we do have turnaround times to
> meet and I have experienced techs who are cutting less than 20 blocks per
> hour.  I understand that some tissues and protocols take longer so this is
> an average not something that has to be hit every shift.
>
> Thanks,
> Kelly
>
> Kelly Pairan,  HT (ASCP)CM, QIHC (ASCP)
> Histology Supervisor-Anatomic Pathology
> Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine
> Email:  kelly.pairan at nationwidechildrens.org<mailto:+kelly.pairan at nationwidechildrens.org>
> ph: 614-722-5414<tel:614-722-5414>
> fx: 614-722-3033<tel:614-722-3033>
>
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