Re: Bunsen burners in a pathology laboratory

<< Previous Message | Next Message >>
From:barbara albert <barbalb@itsa.ucsf.edu>
To:"Gregory Lloyd" <grcall@hotmail.com>, HistoNet@Pathology.swmed.edu
Reply-To:
Date:Fri, 16 Apr 1999 05:17:46 -0700
Content-Type:text/plain; charset="us-ascii"

UCSF-San Francisco.  We use heated forcep wells--no open flame.  Unitl
recently some folks still used an alcohol lamp, but it didn't take much to
get them to quit.

Barbara Albert
UCSF-Stanfold Health Care
(San Francisco Campus)

At 10:47 PM 4/15/99 MDT, Gregory Lloyd wrote:
>Hi folks,
>  I have just signed on to the histonet site...some interesting 
>topics!  I have an interesting topic for people out there.  I have 
>been the safety representative for our histology lab now for about 
>one year.  A concern that I have is the use of bunsen burners in 
>the pathology lab,  these are used to melt the wax off the forceps.  
>I am aware of the safety concerns and issues about open flames in the 
>lab.  My question out there is are others using bunsen burners,to 
>melt wax off the forceps, or do you have another alternative that is 
>not an open flame?  If so would you let me know what you use, where 
>it can be found..or what different techniques are used.
>
>  Some alternatives that the lab has investigated are:
>
>1) Microbiology uses an electric heater - this is a sealed well and 
>the melted wax would pool in the bottom and possibly catch fire.
>
>2) Eliminate all form of heating and just wipe off the forceps with 
>a tissue wipe.  Some people still want to heat the forceps for the 
>more difficult cases to embed. 
>
>3) My favorite is the wells in the embedding center, using multiple 
>forceps.  The heat is still adequate and using three or four forceps 
>off sets the slow reheat time.
>
>  The lab would like to find out what others do to get a feel for the 
>industry standard.
>
>  Thank you in advance for your response.
>
>
>Cameron Lloyd, MLT-CSMLS.
>University of Alberta Hospital
>Capital Health Authority
>Edmonton Alberta
>Canada
>
>______________________________________________________
>Get Your Private, Free Email at http://www.hotmail.com
>
>
>




<< Previous Message | Next Message >>