I have worked in labs where all variations have been used. I found no more
or less mistakes in any of the sites. I personally prefer pre labelling.
What works for one person may not work for another. Some people have
excellent recall of numbers and attention spans, some do not.
I think that at the end of the day there will be mistakes what ever method
is used, we are all human after all (well most of us) but it is all about
having adequate systems in place to minimise the impact of these mistakes.

Have a great day.


-----Original Message-----
From: histonet-bounces@lists.utsouthwestern.edu
[mailto:histonet-bounces@lists.utsouthwestern.edu] On Behalf Of Andrea
Hooper
Sent: Saturday, 4 February 2006 6:37 a.m.
To: Histonet (E-mail)
Cc: Stephen Peters M.D.
Subject: Re: RE: [Histonet] What are peoples feelings on pre labling slides?

I believe this to be entirely histotech dependent. 

I have worked with some histologists who never had a problem as their
attention to detail was high ... and I have 
also worked with others who would constantly confuse slides if labeled ahead
of time. 

Ideally we are all attentive to detail and can handle labeling ahead of
time, but practically in the real world that just 
isn't the case. Everyone is different. 

I believe a supervisor needs to know their staff well enough to enforce the
proper criteria to achieve NO 
MISTAKES!

-----Original Message-----
From: Stephen Peters M.D. [petepath@yahoo.com]
Sent: Friday, February 03, 2006 5:02 AM
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
 



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