RE: [Histonet] entering multiple specimens

From:"Ford Royer"

Having been in both the clinical and anatomical sides of the lab maybe this
will help you explain it to your lab manager.  (Then again, maybe not)

Rebecca hit the confusion point correctly.  If your lab manager is accustom
to the way the clinical lab specimens are numbered then she is probably use
to assigning a different number to specimens that go to different
departments within the clinical lab.  

Example: If a battery of tests were ordered on a patient, such as a
Chemistry Profile, a Complete Blood Count (CBC), and a Blood Culture...
three (3) separate whole blood specimens would be collected from the same
patient, at the same time, on the same day.  One specimen (in a red top
tube) would be assigned a number and sent to the Chem dept.; another
specimen (in a lavender top tube) would be given a separate number and sent
to the Hemo dept.; and a third specimen (in a sterile blood culture bottle)
would be given yet another number and sent to the Micro dept.

However... and this is where you may help your manager in understanding how
surgical specimens are numbered differently... the tube that was sent to
Chemistry had a 12-parameter chemistry profile done on it.  (Glucose,
Triglycerides, Cholesterol, BUN, GGT, Total Protein, etc., etc.)  Should the
Chemistry department then give each individual parameter a separate ID
number? ...  The specimen that went to Hematology had a CBC and a
Differential performed.  Should there be two ID numbers.  One for the blood
tube and one for the slide smear that was stained for the differential. Let
your manager think about this one.
Now in the case of Tonsils, you have one procedure, one patient, two
specimens.  Same I.D. number with separate designations of "A" and "B" (or
"1" and "2", "Left" and "Right" etc.)

Make sense? (I hope so... I'm not sure if I understand it myself)  ;-)

~ Ford

Ford M. Royer, MT(ASCP)
Minnesota Medical Specialists
Minneapolis, MN 

-----Original Message-----
[] On Behalf Of Rebecca
Sent: Monday, March 06, 2006 9:48 AM
Subject: Re: [Histonet] entering multiple specimens

Giving each sample a unique number is how clinical lab specimens are
handled.  It is hard to get some of the clinical lab staff to understand
one person, one date of service = one specimen number.  Our protocol is
no matter how many procedures the patient has if it is all done on the
same day it is one case number, procedures done on another day then
another case number.  For example the patient has a colonoscopy in the
morning and we do a biopsy run and it is determined the patient needs to
go to surgery for a resection, 1 case number with a specimen A and B (or
however many specimen were sent).  It would be to confusing if you give
each specimen a unique number, not only for us but for the doctors.

>>> Tom McNemar  3/6/2006 8:44:10 AM >>>
is asking why we don't give each individual specimen a unique
containers, she doesn't understand why we assign one surgical number
numbers.  For something like a colonoscopy with 10 specimens that would

really complicate things and a separate report would have to be issued
separate repors for the same case..... 

My manager doesn't really understand histo but she tries really hard. 

Tom McNemar, HT(ASCP)
Histology Co-ordinator
Licking Memorial Hospital
Newark, Ohio  43055 

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