Glen,
My day has taken me away from Histonet so I didn't have an opportunity to respond earlier. If I've done something to anger you or hurt your feelings, I apologize. Your response caught me off guard and I realized that I may have done something to cause that. I didn't mean to take a potshot at you. I think that my use of the word "shocked" may have caused this. I wish now that I had used the word "disappointed" instead.

all I am really trying to say is that I wish histotechs had better self esteem professionally speaking. I think that many are too comfortable doing the scut work and letting others do the more interesting stuff. thee are histo labs that turn their sections over to med techs for IHC or in situ staining. I don't believe that cytotechs are more qualified to read FISH than a histotech could/should be. If we don't fight for more recognition, we will never get to do more. My thoughts continue to return to those times when histotechs whine about bad salaries, yet they seem unresponsive to taking on more responsibility for their own professional development.

although your initial "shock" at my suggestion that histotechs should play a greater role with Her 2 neu caught me by surprise, I apologize again if you thought I was trying to be ugly. I regret that you referred to my post as a diatribe only because, while intended to be provocative, may prevent those who could most benefit from really thinking about these issues.

sincerely,
Vinnie


Vinnie Della Speranza
Manager for Anatomic Pathology Services
Medical University of South Carolina
165 Ashley Avenue  Suite 309
Charleston, SC 29425
Ph: 843-792-6353
fax: 843-792-8974

>>> "Dawson, Glen"  12/14/01 01:31PM >>>
Vinnie,

I am getting caught up with the histonet again.  I am not looking for an
argument here.  Surely if the histonet says that FFPE cannot be put out
there without clarification, you can forgive me for misinterpreting your
original message.  My apologies for being alarmed at your post.  Let's just
be friends and stop this one before it gets started.  I will make no further
comment on this subject and regret sending my most recent one.

Sincerely,

Glen 

-----Original Message-----
From: Vinnie Della Speranza [mailto:dellav@musc.edu] 
Sent: Friday, December 14, 2001 9:06 AM
Cc: histonet@pathology.swmed.edu 
Subject: RE: CURIOUS - no reaction!


EXACTLY.  A VERY BIG electronic HUG to Joyce for hitting the nail on the
head !!!

For Glen and the others who are "shocked", the results would always be
confirmed by the pathologist. I was not suggesting that this would not be
the case. Indded I am shocked at how many of you either do not "want" the
responsibility or believe that they shouldn't have it. I am shocked by how
many of you are willing to accept that other lab disciplines are more
capable or more qualified than we.  Perhaps these reactions can explain in
part why our discipline has been held back. if our own practitioners do not
believe that they can or should perform certain duties, they in effect hold
themselves back.
Everywhere I have worked, ER, PR and Her2 have been screened by technical
staff, either med techs or cytotechs. yes, their results were verified by
the doc.
The greatest limitation is EDUCATION. These tests would be considered high
complexity, requiring the CLIA mandated education level of those doing this
screening and this in effect would eliminate many histotechs.


Vinnie Della Speranza
Manager for Anatomic Pathology Services
Medical University of South Carolina
165 Ashley Avenue  Suite 309
Charleston, SC 29425
Ph: 843-792-6353
fax: 843-792-8974

>>> "Weems, Joyce"  12/14/01 05:21AM >>>
I believe the issue would be - why is a cytotech more qualified than an HTL?
It is just accepted that histotechs read nothing, but it is time to start
changing that perception with all the quantitive testing coming into common
use. As with a cytotech, a pathologist would have the final say. Perhaps
that could be one of the things that separates a HT from an HTL. 

My 2 cents....

Everyone have a great weekend! j 

-----Original Message-----
From: Dawson, Glen
To: Vinnie Della Speranza; histonet@pathology.swmed.edu 
Sent: 12/13/2001 4:46 PM
Subject: RE: CURIOUS - no reaction!

Vinnie,

I was unaware that a histotech would EVER read out results.  Having a
histotech who makes $28,000 per year carrying no malpractice insurance
reading out FISH is NOT NOT NOT advisable.  Any institution having
histotechnicians reading out cases is asking for big trouble.  In my
lab,
histotechs perform all the technical duties required to produce the
final
product, but it is read out by a well-trained, well-paid pathologist
(who
carries malpractice insurance).

Shocked,

Glen Dawson  BS, HT & IHC (ASCP)
Lead IHC Technologist
Milwaukee, WI

-----Original Message-----
From: Vinnie Della Speranza [mailto:dellav@musc.edu] 
Sent: Thursday, December 13, 2001 1:12 PM
To: histonet@pathology.swmed.edu 
Subject: CURIOUS - no reaction!


I have been watching this thread (Her 2neu/ FISH) over thepast week with
some interest, wondering if anyone else would react to this but no one
has.
I hope that it is because everyone is distracted with other things and
NOT
complacent.

No one commented that at this one facility (quoted below) the histotechs
perform that method but are NOT asked to read the result.

in an earlier post (source deleted to protect the innocent!) someone
wrote
>>> 12/11/01 11:39AM
Our histotechs perform the staining procedure for FISH, but we have a
cytotech that is trained to read them along with a pathologist.>>>

it is not typically a cytotech's scope of practice to read out tissues.
 Why aren't histotechs reading out these cases????

comments?


Vinnie Della Speranza
Manager for Anatomic Pathology Services
Medical University of South Carolina
165 Ashley Avenue  Suite 309
Charleston, SC 29425
Ph: 843-792-6353
fax: 843-792-8974