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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