Re: Cross Contamination

From:kevin williams



I am not sure how the forceps cooling is causing the problem, but I have two ideas to solve that one.

Firstly there are some real nice forceps I have that where here when I arrived, (Excelta  3c-SA-ET Neverust made in Switzerland) they have a sponge like plastic covering of most of the metal that your hands would touch, and act as insulation keeping the forcepts warm for quite long periods of time, for forceps. They are also thin and pointed so less area for heat loss and less area to convey contamination. 

Secondly on the back of your embeding station there is probably a temprature adjuster for the embedding part of the machine, this covers the forceps holder wells and you could check  to see how warm it gets and possibly jack it up a bit.  

Good luck

Yours faithfully,

A.Kevin Williams

>From: DMBCMP@aol.com
>To: histonet@pathology.swmed.edu
>Subject: Cross Contamination
>Date: Mon, 07 Jul 2003 12:43:09 -0400 (EDT)
>
>My lab has an ongoing problem of cross-contamination, which I believe happens
>during embedding. Our hospital does not allow the use of an open flame in
>the Histology lab. Flaming the forceps with a bunsen burner would no doubt
>solve the problem but since that is not an option, does anyone have a suggestion?
>We have tried non-grooved forceps, but were unable to grasp the tiny pieces
>of tissue. The "forceps warmer" on the embedding centre is only barely hot
>enough to keep the forceps warm for a few moments. We switch forceps back and
>forth during embedding.
>I would appreciate any suggestions. Thanks.
>
>Dannie Blake (HT)
>Histo Technical Specialist
>Fresno Community Hospital
>Fresno, California
>


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