Fixation on Histology

Microtomes are at the heart of histotechnology. We've blogged about them before, but not about how histology professionals track their productivity when using them. Today's blog paraphrases the responses to a Histology Professionals Facebook post about a method for tracking microtomy productivity.

A couple of thread participants suggested the tried and true paper and pencil method by having techs initial slides and record their daily tally on a piece of paper. Another commented that they instruct histotechs to log how many daily cases are cut. Techs initial the cases cut, time blocks are picked up, and time slides are put in the oven or on the stainer if the oven is integrated. Another thread participant offered this "old school" method to the conversation; “In a prior lab I worked at, everyone had a specific color sharpie and would put a stripe quickly on the side of the blocks they cut when finished cutting.” A few others agreed and remarked that their labs also used the "sharpie method."

Many thread participants suggested getting a LIS (Laboratory Information System). Several histology professionals were happy to share which specific systems they were willing to recommend—Cerner, Epic, and AB&T were all mentioned—but Vantage came up repeatedly. While NSH is reporting on what was publicly shared, it is important to note that it does not endorse or favor one LIS system.

One commenter offered insight into the many "variables" that histotechs need to consider when measuring productivity—"Productivity is very tricky because of the numerous variables. Sections counting in a LIS system would be a better tool than slides or blocks because many places put multiple levels on a slide and sometimes cut unstained slides on a block, which uses time and resources and should be counted. Example: Five blocks, one slide each is very different from five blocks, three levels on one slide, and two unstained slides. The method will take lots of time if you don't have a LIS that supports this level of tracking.”

It says a lot about how helpful our community of histotechnology professionals is to one another. Not only do they take the time to answer questions from their colleagues at large, but they also want to make sure that their esteemed colleagues are mindful of the "big picture" when a specific question is posed.

Written by Nancy Elmahdy, based on a question and subsequent comments posted in the Histology Professionals Group on Facebook.