I'm not sure if we are all missing the main point here, with pre-labelled slides if you pick up the wrong slides for the block you are cutting, you must either pick up on your mistake when cutting the next block OR if you don't you have made a second mistake. As we all know it happens regularly, but it is picked up straight away, so for this to go through as far as it did is a problem for our industry.

-----Original Message-----
From: Vinnie Della Speranza [mailto:dellav@musc.edu]
Sent: Thursday, 30 January 2003 3:24 AM
To: JHoffpa464@aol.com; Susan.Walzer@HCAHealthcare.com; histonet@pathology.swmed.edu; Ronald.Martin@umassmed.edu
Subject: RE: Minnesota histology mistake

I would love to hear from labs using automatic slide labelers as I have
to assume that have all slides pre-labeled ahead of time. how do you
prevent sections from being picked up onto the wrong slide?



Vinnie Della Speranza
Manager for Anatomic Pathology Services
Medical University of South Carolina
165 Ashley Avenue  Suite 309
Charleston, SC 29425
Ph: 843-792-6353
fax: 843-792-8974

>>> Walzer Susan  01/29/03 10:46AM >>>
I have always believed that pre-labeling slides is hazardous.  When
the
workload is heavy and labs are often chaotic it makes sense to label
the
slide as you are looking at the block you just cut. Most mis-labeling
in our
lab has been done by people labeling their slides ahead of time. They
may
think they are saving time but fixing mistakes is much more time
consuming.

-----Original Message-----
From: Martin, Ronald [mailto:Ronald.Martin@umassmed.edu]
Sent: Wednesday, January 29, 2003 9:25 AM
To: JHoffpa464@aol.com
Cc: histonet@pathology.swmed.edu
Subject: RE: Minnesota histology mistake


By having several similar cases (ie. breast,prostate,colon bx's) on one
cold
plate at a time and having slides already numbered/made up. I have
seen
techs accidently place the wrong tissue on the wrong numbered slide. I
have
also seen techs write the wrong numner on slides before. Sorry for the
confusing question.

-----Original Message-----
From: JHoffpa464@aol.com [mailto:JHoffpa464@aol.com]
Sent: Wednesday, January 29, 2003 9:15 AM
To: Martin, Ronald; Lynne.Bell@hitchcock.org;
histonet@pathology.swmed.edu
Subject: Re: Minnesota histology mistake


how do you put the worng tissue on the wrong slide. i know for a fact
you
can only operate one microtome at a time. i have tried to use two at
once,
when very busy.