EVERY lab can use Micro Tissue Arrays.

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array, control, cut, histology, IHC, Immunohistochemistry, lab, manage, micro, paraffin, QC, slide, tissue

 

Video credit: IHC World www.ihcworld.com

We read about Micro Tissue Arrays in the current literature.  It seems like a cool idea for research labs and other non-clinical applications.  If you haven’t thought how they might help in your routine everyday processes…consider they might save you time,  simplify complex decision-making and reduce re-work in the routine clinical path lab.

How much time do you spend each day managing control slides? Have a big IHC menu? Lots of specials? Time spent keeping QC tissue blocks organized, slides cut, matching the QC slide to the antibody and deciding to mount the patient section on the control or double the reagent cost and run two: we do it every day and it adds up.  Ever grab the wrong control and have to start all over again again?  Yeah, me too.

Wouldn’t it be AWESOME to just reach for ONE slide for all your routine specials?  Or ONE out of maybe THREE choices for your entire IHC antibody menu?  Watch the video at the top–these aren’t difficult to construct and once mapped, reading them is a breeze. 

The molds come in different sizes (# & diameter of the plugs) and assuming your cutters know their stuff, you’ll produce HUNDREDS of perfect, proven control slides from each block stocking your stain techs for weeks in even the highest volume situations.

Thanks to IHC World for the quality video and photos. 

Drop me a comment (upper right) with your experiences and thoughts — good idea or just another neat way to play with paraffin?

Travel temp – weighing the options

Traveling as a tech has good things and bad things, both.  The good things include the ability to say when, have some control over where, a little about what (shift, job description, facility type), and you can take time off between assignments. 

New people and places have their attraction. Some of my friends are from assignments nearly twenty years ago– and they’re all over the country!  Going new places and spending time learning a new city can be fun.  And you learn so much: I can do most any kind of Histology with any equipment and solve problems sixteen different ways.

One unexpected benefit is you can remain detached from the politics & drama in the labs that have a lot of that stuff going on.  That’s one thing that marks a great traveler in one who remains above the fray.  And if it is a less-than-lovely environment, it is easier as you know you’re going to move on pretty soon and can simply count down the days. 

Oh! Hotels and housekeeping! Don’t forget the lovelies that give us new linens, tidy up after us and vacuum once a week, usually there is a gym and a pool, so all we have to do is work and relax. 

The bad things include you can’t take extra time off mid-assignment to explore: we’re there to work.  Rarely is there overtime, we often do the basics like embed and cut, as that’s the most valuable use of our time. 

Time away can take a toll.  If you have to work without big breaks in between assignments you can lose contact with friends, and being away from family for extended periods gets old.  Really old.

The money isn’t all that much different if you calculate the cost of benefits and the time off without vacation pay.  Then add the total freak between assignments when it feels like there won’t be another job anytime soon!   

So it’s simply a choice.  Weigh the pros and cons in light of your life situation.  In this economy having a full time job with stability and full benefits including vacation time is good.   If you’re in-between jobs or are able to incorporate a little uncertainty into your life’s plan, maybe being a traveler is for you.   

Anyone else have comments or content to add–we’d love to hear from you!

Love to cut?

Cutting.  The core of our work. As a bench tech I suspect you get to cut and embed every day.  Would you be surprise that when taken out of a lab for a long period of time, you might MISS cutting and embedding?

 I don’t get to cut every day like I used to – and yes – I really miss it!  I think it’s part of why retired techs take part time and PRN work.  We miss the art of making those beautiful sections from GI to full large-mold colon slides. 

Just sayin.

How does the weekend go?

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Anatomic, diagnostics, Histology Jobs Career Hire Histolotech HT(ASCP) Laboratory Pathology Grosser Pathologists Assistant, jobs, Medical Pathology Pathologist

I love how at the end of each workday in Histology, all the specimens are grossed, your blocks are cut and slides are turned out or on an overnight IHC run.  When you load the processors you have a pretty good idea what tomorrow (or like today how Monday) is going to go. 

I still bench in a lab pretty frequently but not every day.  I’m usually in an office under a phone headset and duct-taped to my computer.  I miss having a stack of flats or a tray of blocks at the end of the day and the satisfaction of ‘I did that’.  Nowadays my day is a reflection of who I talked with: is  the search for their next career step going well…or how close are we to finding that perfect fit for the people in that lab working short for the second quarter in a row. 

I do think about how stressful being in a job that doesn’t fit can be.  I’ve had a few of those along the way.  I also think about how tired you get working short day after day–we’ve ALL been there. 

So rather than being measured by a stack of slides or a box of blocks, my day at Full Staff is measured by this question:  where did we make a REAL difference today?  My day is about people and service.  Sometimes that means sitting at my desk on a beautiful Saturday afternoon because Suzanne and Erick need to get back to work and the guys in Ohio have been working short since before Thanksgiving.  It feels good–

–the privilege of making a difference.