Pre-labelling of slides both for Histo and Cyto, pre-labelling of blood
bottles and LBC vials, in my opinion wastes more time than it saves because
of the cock ups and litigation it creates. My old Senior Chief used to say
you should treat every specimen, slide, etc. as if it were from you or one
of your relatives. Obviously if you hate your relatives or have a death wish
then the example doesn't work.

Personally, I wouldn't, pre-label slides that is.

Kemlo Rogerson
Weston General Hospital
Pathology Manager
Ext  3311
DD   01934 647057
Mob 07749 754194
 
 
 

-----Original Message-----
From: Stephen Peters M.D. [mailto:petepath@yahoo.com] 
Sent: Friday, February 03, 2006 1:02 PM
To: Histonet@lists.utsouthwestern.edu
Subject: [Histonet] What are peoples feelings on pre labling slides?

I am curious to see if it is considered acceptable practice to pre-label
multiple 
  slides before cutting the blocks and picking the tissues up on these
pre-labeled 
  slides. We came close to a dangerous misdiagnosis because a tech picked up
   a malignant section from a " part 2 breast biopsy" on a prelabled part 1
slide. Luckily it made no sense that only one of many slides contained tumor
that 
  looked like it was coming from an advanced tumor. After playing match the
blocks
   it was obvious that the malignant part one slide matched a part 2 block.
It seems 
  to me that this is a potentially dangerous habit despite the convenience
of 
  assembly line labeling. Early in my career I stopped labeling my frozen
section slides 
  up front and wait until after I pick up the section. When I am cutting
frozens I  make
   variable #s of slides depending on the situation. Working quickly under
the
   pressure of multiple cases it is not hard to pick up the wrong slide and
make
   this mistake. I am curious to hear peoples thoughts.


Stephen Peters M.D. 
Vice Chairman of Pathology
Hackensack University Medical Center 
201 996 4836
 
Pathology Innovations, LLC 
410 Old Mill Lane, 
Wyckoff, NJ 07481 
201 847 7600 
www.pathologyinnovations.com 




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