I've always been told by the Cytotechs that I work with that you can use the
same Non-Gyn staining line for all specimens, just stain the specimens that
are suspicous last and then filter all solutions.  This has satisfied CAP
all of my years processing Non-Gyn specmiens.
So, if I would have two urines and then a body fluid highly suspicous you
could stain the urines together and then stain the body fluid.  You would
then filter every staining dish in the line.

Hope this helps.

Dawn

-----Original Message-----
From: Landrum, Donna (San Jac) [mailto:DLandrum@tmh.tmc.edu] 
Sent: Monday, February 17, 2003 10:47 AM
To: 'Histonet@pathology.swmed.edu'
Subject: Criteria for staining Cytology specimens with high potential of c
ross-contamination



The lab I work in is small.  We process surgical specimens and non-gyn
cytology.  I recently have had to create a new procedure on how we batch and
stain our cytology.  We have to separate low-cellular, high cellular, and
FNA's.  They have to all be stained separately and in their own set-up.   We
do PAP's and H&E's on most all cytologies.  

My question is, Does anyone have any tips on how to keep this simplified?
Currently, I am staining all PAP's together and all H&E's together.  If I
have to separate, I would have to set up six different staining set-ups.  I
do not have an automatic stainer right now, so these are all manual set-ups.
My feeling is that this is total overkill.   Especially since we have never
had any problems.  But, to satisfy CAP, we must separate everything.  

If you have any helpful information, I would appreciate any ideas.

Donna Landrum, HT (ASCP)
Histology Lab Supervisor