Let  me say once again.  I am not using this information to hammer the techs.  There is no "why did it take you 2 hours to embed 60 blocks?"  I know we deal with many different types of tissue  that require different techniques.  I am not an idiot.  I plan to use this info to improve our work flow and show management where it is and isn't realistic to place microwave processing.  No one will be held to # standards.  Our techs are held to quality standards not quantity.  However, I can not put quality on paper and I must be able to justify to management why I think certain processes will or will not work in our lab.  Now that I have received so many negative responses, I am sorry I asked.  I thought I could receive some help from the technical community.  I will do my own time studies and use my information wisely to benefit the lab.

>>> "amosbrooks@comcast.net"  07/03/02 08:34AM >>>
Hi,
   You must understand that techs HATE to have time expectations placed on them while doing such a finniky process. Each block is different necessitating different strategies. One could liken it to how many oil changes can you do per minute on 100 random cars. It depends on how big the (engine)block is, how large the plug is, how tight the last jerk tightened it. Time for cutting can vary. If the processing is PERFECT and the embedding is PERFECT and ALL the tissues are identical shapes sixes and types then you can make a proper assesment. But this never happens so it is virtually impossible to have a proper guesstimate (guess / estimate). Are you cutting breast specimens, uteri, bones, biopsies or a mix of them? How are the techs going to react to the tissue being processed differently? These are important questions to ask before assuming the techs should be done with one load and ready for another. Flow charts are great for people who are behind a desk not for the people doing the real work.
Amos Brooks

Original Message:
-----------------
From: Mary Reeves REEVEML@shands.ufl.edu 
Date: Tue, 02 Jul 2002 07:39:58 -0400
To: Mike_LaFriniere@memorial.org, histonet@pathology.swmed.edu 
Subject: RE: Standards and Averages


Maybe I should clarify why I want the info.  My department is currently creating a flow chart so we can look at how we can better staff to meet our turn around times.  Also we are going to demo a microwave processor.  Knowing that this will change our jobs tremendously, we would like to know where it will fit into our lab's work flow.

>>> "LaFriniere, Mike"  07/01/02 07:44PM >>>
Mary,

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