We have been printing slide labels with the patient name on them for years now.  I thought that there was some regulation somewhere that stated slides to be sent outside for consultation, for example, were required to be labeled with the patient name....I could be wrong (old age and all) but in any case, we do label all of our slides with the patient name, number and our institution's name on them.  
Have a great day  :o)

Vicki
Albany Medical Center

>>> Lee & Peggy Wenk <lpwenk@mail.netquest.com> 02/23/01 05:39AM >>>
Hearing of a trend of printing the patient's names along with their surgical
number on the slide label , and want to know Hectometer's opinion.

I've been in the field 20+ years. In all that time, I've been told we deal
with ONLYsurgical numbers, not names, once the tissue has been assigned a
number, because:
1. Less likely to confuse numbers than names, especially if two specimens
come down with the same or similar numbers.
2. Confidentiality.

Now, I'm hearing (and seeing) patients' names being printed on the slide
label, along with the surgical number, institution name, and stain name.

I've been told this is part of QC in many places, to make certain that the
name and the surgical number correlate when the pathologists are dictating
their findings, or when slides are being sent out for consultation or at the
request of the patient.

Anyone out there printing the names on the slides?

Has there been any comments about confidentiality?

Thanks in advance for your input.

Peggy A. Wenk, HTL(ASCP)