I would add to this that having histology people do the on-call is
best,IMHO. I worked in a hospital where the night shift clinical lab people
would check our processor if the alarm went off but it did not work out very
well - they just did not have the vested interest to do a good job of it.
Histology people will be motivated to take care of the problem rather than
ignore it.

Tim

-----Original Message-----
From: Vicki Gauch [mailto:GauchV@mail.amc.edu]
Sent: Tuesday, February 06, 2001 10:10 AM
To: prippstein@ottawahospital.on.ca; histonet@pathology.swmed.edu
Subject: Re: Tissue Processor Alarms


Peter,
 We have external alarms on all of our processors as well as our -70
freezer.  We have a tech on call at all times and those alarms have saved us
more times than I care to mention.  Since we are notified of any fault in
the processors, we can then come in, assess the situation and move the
tissues to another processor if need be...thus saving our TAT on those cases
which would otherwise have to be processed the following day or on Monday in
the case of a weekend problem.  It has also allowed us to have the
processors looked at on off hours so the repair process could be initiated
rather than having to wait until the following work day.  I am very much in
favor of the alarms.....having worked both with and without them....they can
make all the difference in the world...

Have a great day,
 Vicki
Albany Medical Center

>>> "Rippstein, Peter" <prippstein@ottawahospital.on.ca> 02/06/01 09:52AM
>>>
Histoneters,

I would like to get a general consensus on the merits of external alarms on
tissue processors which would alert staff in case of an error during the
night or on weekends.
Thanking you in advance, 

Peter Rippstein, ART
Charge Technologist
Anatomical Pathology
The Ottawa Hospital, Civic Campus
Ph: 798-5555 ext 16589
Fax: 761-4846
email: prippstein@ottawahospital.on.ca