Advice please--How to gross?

[Ultra7]

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Hello all,
I am looking for basic instructions on cutting in specimans (to prepare for residency next year). Is there such a thing as a guide/book (sort of analogous to Grant's Dissector) that you all use as a reference when grossing in organs? Better yet, is there an online guide I could look at?
Thanks a lot for your help.

 

[LADoc00]

Hruban has one. Other than that, your program will teach you everything. If they dont, threaten to turn them into the feds.

 

[DarksideAllstar]

I like the Lester grossing manual for general "how is tissue processed" and "what do I do with _____?"--type questions. Its around $100. UCSF has their own grossing manual that they give to their residents, I imagine that most places have their "own" specific way of doing things. BTW- don't bother reading the specifics. If anything, only read the first like 40 pages of Lester like the week before you start. Even then you won't understand most of it until you start cutting.




Disclaimer: In no way am I condoning the reading of any material prior to residency, except if it is pornographic in nature.

 

[deleted113029]

I like the Lester grossing manual for general "how is tissue processed" and "what do I do with _____?"--type questions. Its around $100. UCSF has their own grossing manual that they give to their residents, I imagine that most places have their "own" specific way of doing things. BTW- don't bother reading the specifics. If anything, only read the first like 40 pages of Lester like the week before you start. Even then you won't understand most of it until you start cutting.

true 👍 i won't worry about grossing until the first day of residency. that is why i'm going to residency in the first place; to be trained. i wanna just review path and histo (especially histo) before the start of residency...that's what my chair said for me to do.

 

[b&ierstiefel]

Don't read too much before residency. It's not gonna help. You have to learn this by simply doing it! Anything you read will sound so abstract.

Lester's manual is great for step by step tips for grossing a given type of specimen. Sample dictations are there too.

Hruban's manual has good illustrations and some tips for grossing (not as detailed as Lester manual).

Personally, I just go with Lester and Netter (when necessary). It helps that we get Lester manual for free too 😀 Maybe that's why I never really used the Hruban book much.

 

[Cabbage Head]

Don't read too much before residency. It's not gonna help. You have to learn this by simply doing it!

Agreed. Your time would be much better spent doing just about anything else. Find a quiet cabin on the top of a mountain and practice transcendental meditation, or drink beer and watch the Final Thought segment of the last 5 minutes of Jerry Springer. You'll get way more out of either.

 

[CameronFrye]

Don't read too much before residency. It's not gonna help. You have to learn this by simply doing it! Anything you read will sound so abstract.

Lester's manual is great for step by step tips for grossing a given type of specimen. Sample dictations are there too.

Hruban's manual has good illustrations and some tips for grossing (not as detailed as Lester manual).

Personally, I just go with Lester and Netter (when necessary). It helps that we get Lester manual for free too 😀 Maybe that's why I never really used the Hruban book much.

I agree. Until you have built a framework, reading won't do much good. No one expects you to know anything when you show up and you probably won't really be asked much.

Things that you should do when you first show up:
-be organized
-know your clinical histories before sign out
-be sure you can explain a specimen to the attending if they ask
-don't let cases slip through the cracks
-tell the truth (if you don't know something, or you screwed something up, fess up and don't lie about it)
-bust your ass

Honestly, to be a good path resident that impresses your attendings, you don't really need to know any pathology.

 

[DrBloodmoney]

The two main grossing manuals are the Lester and the Hruban. They're both decent. But truthfully, your department will probably have at least one of them floating around so you don't need to buy one. And after your first month or so of grossing you probably won't need one.

 

[DarksideAllstar]

And after your first month or so of grossing you probably won't need one.

Assuming that you see and do every type of resection specimen like 3-4 times in that month? At the end of my first year, I (and other 1st year APs) would need to reference the manual periodically, but yeah, it was less than at the beginning.

 

[deschutes]

There's sure to be a gross-room (i.e. seriously filthy) copy of a dissection manual available by the grossing stations.

And if you have your own copy of Lester/Hruban and you know what you'll be grossing in that day, then you can read about what to do with the thing the night before, and then have the manual by your side as you go through the specimen.

You'll take two hours to do a prostate when you first start. Most people do. So relax.