(This is an older post, as the title shows. I found it relevant even after the years between. Please see my previous post if you are curious why this is showing up now.)
I left 2017 with good tidings. The lab hadn’t lost anything in a while. The Boy Man had been doing his job right so the tissues were processed correctly. I left saying I had nothing to report about patient safety or lab errors, nothing to inform patients. If only that status had stayed the same.
The lengthy hiatus from posting isn’t because everything has gone well. I wish. Instead, it has gone so horribly wrong I could not post for fear my angst and worry would spill into my posts and reveal details about the lab that could not only embarrass co-workers but potentially create a HIPPA violation. By waiting, I have forgotten details that could lead to such slips.
That said, I intend to share the worst fuck-ups from the last year. I want to talk about the problems we encountered when our lab moved. I want to talk about State of the Art equipment that we now have. So far, it’s been a nightmare. Be that because of supervision or the equipment, who can say?
I debate with myself whether to reveal the name brand of the equipment. I’m not certain all the problems are the fault of the company that sold it to us. I will reveal the consequences of the failures as I was directly involved. Anyone who is in the field, you should probably recognize the equipment I am writing about if you encounter it.
2018 was miserable. If the lab were a TV drama, it wouldn’t be Grey’s Anatomy. It would be the Walking Dead. Supervision failed us. The institution for which I work failed us. They still have patted themselves on the back and handed each other numerous awards and accolades for the new lab. They say it is the newest, best, fastest technology but in fact it is a mess of barely-functioning equipment being visited by repairmen every week if not every day in a poorly planned space too small for us to work well.
The fact we were over a week behind in our work with thousands of blocks sitting around un-embedded and uncut attests to that. Every patient’s case should be cut, stained, and in the hands of a pathologist after 24 hours not a week or more.
(I read this after leaving that job two years after these revelations. I have so much to add. It should be fun.)
A Slice of You 