How about "Nice" labs (was: control of dust in lab)

From:"Morken, Tim"

Well, all this talk of decrepit labs induces me to tell about the wonderful
hosptial lab I worked at...in Saudi Arabia, of all places.

I will have to preface this by saying that I got there just after they moved
into the new lab and I got to see the old lab. Luckily I didn't have to work
in there. The old histo lab took up  five benches in a very large room that
contained the entire clinical lab - 150 people literally stacked on top of
one another. The rest of the clinical lab had to endure formalin fumes along
with the histology crew.

But the new lab... what a dream for a histologist!

2500 square feet all to ourselves.
 
A central specimen receiving area is adjacent to the frozen and grossing
labs but separate from the main histo lab.

A frozen section room (that was bigger than my old histo lab in the States)
with three excellent cryostats, one having an Instrumedics tape system; a
multi-head microscope on a large bench, and a real fume hood in which to do
the frozen sample grossing. Also a gross photo stand.

Two grossing hoods - each in its own 10 foot-square alcove, one closed off
with a sliding glass door.

A 10 x 10 foot alcove with three VIP tissue processors.

A ventilated tissue storage room, with a hood to boot.

A 1000 square-foot main histo lab that includes:
A special alcove just for special stains - a 6-foot hood, island with a
linear sink down the middle, with faucets overhead.

A "clean" desk area for computer work that actally was clean!

Plenty of room for six techs to work with no sight obstructions and lots of
light (though no windows).

A separate room for slide storage engineered for the weight of slides.

A separate immuno lab that has a bench long enough to land a 747.

An EM lab that is so big that people got lost in there.

A cytology lab with three separate rooms - one a real isolation room for
sample prep and a Biosafety hood, the second a stain room, the third a scope
room. FNA clinic is immediately adjacent (one CAP inspector claimed it was
the nicest cytology lab he had ever seen).

A large transcription office with isolated desks for each transcriptionist.

A 14-head microscope for slide parties, with video and computer capture as
well.

54 microsopes for 25 staff, 8 pathologists and 5 residents.

A real break room - just for the Histo/Cyto staff.

That's at the King Faisal Specialist Hospital in Riyadh. I worked there for
five years and loved it. If you ever get a chance to work there - grab it!

(BTW- were not doing to badly here at CDC either. We're in an old building
now (where the air-conditioning consists of whatever is going on outside)
but we are doing OK on space, have the best equipment imaginable, and have
just started construction on the new lab building that we will move into in
3 years).

Tim Morken
CDC, Atlanta







-----Original Message-----
From: Dawson, Glen [mailto:GDawson@Milw.Dynacare.com]
Sent: Thursday, November 29, 2001 10:01 AM
To: Andrew Kennedy; 'HistoNet@Pathology.swmed.edu'
Subject: RE: control of dust in lab


Andrew,

You just described the lab I moved from to a T.  If not for all the mice and
the Roaches the size of small dogs that I had to deal with, I would have
thought you worked in my old lab as well.  This goes to show that if a histo
lab would actually fit in an old tire in the back yard, that's where we
would be.

Glen Dawson

-----Original Message-----
X-Sybari-Space: 00000000 00000000 00000000 00000000
From: Andrew Kennedy [mailto:kennedya@email.cs.nsw.gov.au]
Sent: Tuesday, November 27, 2001 4:13 PM
To: 'HistoNet@Pathology.swmed.edu'
Subject: Re: control of dust in lab


Dust!? Is that all? How about floods of water from the ceiling and down the
walls, no power, no air conditioning, no gas, no toilets, no computer
network, high levels of lead in the dust, asbestos scares, tradesmen walking
off the job due to finding asbestos.......all this and more in various
combinations - just another week in the Histo lab at Concord Hospital while
the multi storey building is being renovated. Twelve months of this (and
counting...) It has been a nightmare!!!

Full marks to the lab staff for putting up with this and still putting out
some fine work...

Andrew Kennedy (cough...cough)

-----Original Message-----
From: Bruce Gapinski 
To: 'Rose Richardson' 
Cc: 'HistoNet@Pathology.swmed.edu' 
Date: Wednesday, 28 November 2001 08:35
Subject: RE: control of dust in lab


Oh my! I thought I was the only supervisor whose' lab is moving temporarily!
I am moving on Dec. 15th to an absolutely God-awful temp suite. Dust? Try
black walls (old X-ray suite) one two plug power outlet and carpet where
we'll be cutting! Enough w/ my problems!
Try a dust remover from Sharper Image (if you can get your docs to
approve it). Otherwise, I'm going in w/ a damp cloth.
Did I mention they found asbestos in the "new permanent" suite?
That'll push move in back!
Respectfully,
Bruce Gapinski HT(ASCP)
PS Keep your sense of humor, if you can.

-----Original Message-----
From: Rose Richardson [mailto:rrichar3@iupui.edu]
Sent: Tuesday, November 27, 2001 12:08 PM
To: histonet
Subject: control of dust in lab

Hello all,
We are moving to a temporary facility until our labs are
remodeled. The
place where we are moving has a lot of dust in the air and I
am concerned
that it will play havoc with our  sections. So do you think
a HEPA filter
might help us out or does anyone have other suggestions?

Rose Richardson









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