Leadership - Appointments

HistoQIP is a quality assurance program for histopathology, jointly sponsored by the National Society for Histotechnology and the College of American Pathologists. The primary emphasis of the program is to improve the quality of histologic preparations routinely performed in the histology laboratory through education. NSH representatives on the committee grade submissions and prepare the written materials returned to labs.

Current Happenings: 2010 Annual Report
The NSH members serving on the HistoQIP program are; Robert Lott, Janet Tunnicliffe,Konnie Zietner, Jerry Santiago and Elizabeth Sheppard. There was two major changes in 2010 with HistoQIP. The original section continued to evaluate H&E, routine special,and IHC staining, but the focus turned from routine special stains to having more emphasis on IHC. The routine specials stains were reduced to one stain per cycle and the IHC was increased from one to two stains per cycle. This change reflects the changes that are being seen in the laboratory. The second major change was the development of a biopsy only program. This program has two cycles per year and where only H&E stained sections of specific small biopsy tissues are submitted. This increased work load results in more slides for the committee members and invited graders to review each cycle. The overall enrolment has continued to increase even with the branching off of the biopsy program, indicating that the HistoQIP program provides a much needed service to laboratories who are trying to develop a quality management program. Feed back to CAP has been extremely positive, which reflects well on the NSH members who donate their time and share their knowledge as part of this success story.

Submitted on behalf of the HistoQIP committee by Janet Tunnicliffe