Pathologists that have Microscopes at home?

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KeratinPearls

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OK does anyone know of any pathologists that have nice microscopes at home (becuase they just cant get enough of pathology at work)?

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OK does anyone know of any pathologists that have nice microscopes at home (becuase they just cant get enough of pathology at work)?
I have known one. Better still, she was a resident at the time, and a hardcore backstubbing gunner.
 
OK does anyone know of any pathologists that have nice microscopes at home (becuase they just cant get enough of pathology at work)?

Me, but i rarely use it. sometimes i will look at my check path cases if i am off when they come in. i have not taken work home for it.
 
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I have one and it really helps me to get projects done. I would never recommend taking home clinical work. If you can get a microscope do it!

My medical school switched to all online modules for pathology and were selling their Olympus BHs for $100 each. I just happened to be in town when this happened. I bought a few. I heard a residency in state came and bought almost all the inventory.
 
Are there rules or reg's about transporting patient tissue? Do slides count?

I would never take slides home...the legal issues about confidentiality as well as the liability should something happen to them freaks me out too much.
 
Taking slides home from the hospital is a major violation of HIPAA and most hospitals have rules against it. In order to view electronic data from home you have to have an encrypted computer and password-protected authorized access. Most (if not all) hospitals either don't authorize patient tissue to be taken off site or actively prohibit it.

If any of you are doing this, I would be careful and make sure that your department/hospital allows it. Most do not.
 
Taking clinical work home is probably a nonstarter, for the reasons that have been mentioned. Also, I think you can only make diagnoses from a facility that has a CLIA license. (Not sure what the status of this regulation is--if it is a CLIA requirement, CAP accreditation requirement or what--but it has come up because we have several facilities in our system.)

However, several of our most productive people (attendings and trainees) seem to have scopes at home and use them either for education or research. I don't myself envision having space for this, but if it works for you, why not. Unless you get in on one of these med school resale deals, you may find that the scope you can afford is not the one you want to use.
 
What would someone use a scope at home for anyway? I honestly like the idea of having a kick-ass microscope of my own, but then I always think: "what would I do with it?" You can't take your cases home (if you wanted to), so as a resident, what sort of educational things could you do with it? Is it possible to take teaching sets home? I wouldn't think you could, but then I'm not a resident.
 
Imagine putting patients' papers and glass slides in your car....you have an accident and all the stuff is thrown everywhere in your car or may be into the street...

Imagine your car (or the bag in which you put the material) gets stolen and then you show up in the department the following day telling that the material is "stolen".

Also imagine that you forget the case (or some slides of it) at home and on the following day they ask for the case to be reviewed..you simply say "I forgot it at home"..Vey embarrassing. ..

Just imagine being in these funny situations. Pateints' material belongs to the hospital and should stay there only. Don't subject your license to any risk, please.

I used to have a microscope at home. I used it mainly for research (reviewing re-cut slides or analyzing immunostaining of an immunomarker on slides cut for a research project). I also used it for educational purposes such as looking at Check Sample slides and some of my old re-cuts. I definitely avoid bringing patients' cases at home.
 
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The chairman of our Pathology department has a microscope at home, which he has used for clinical purposes.
 
Is it really illegal/a violation of hospital rules to travel with patient materials. I have seen docs come from other hospitals travel with patient's charts to go to tumor boards. That seems even more egregious (if it is illegal) than driving around with a glass slide.

And at our place slides get lost all the time. Both in house and even once in awhile consult cases. It never seems like it is that big of a deal. You just recut them. Sometimes even blocks get lost, and in fact I have even seen specimens get lost.

But having said that, the last thing I would want to do would be to look at slides while at home; although, maybe if I tried it I would like it. It is not an issue now that I am not a resident but maybe it would have been nice, you know watch an NBA play-off game while having a beer and previewing slides for the next day at home.
 
I prefer looking at diopter blowing TMA slides in the comfort of my own home while drinking a PBR. It makes it slightly less painful.

After looking at slides all day, its hard to look at research material especially when you don't have time built in for it. Its better to go home, eat, and spend time with the fam. After everything has calmed down, I can whip it out and look at slides again. Its a good option for people who cant get there at 5am or cant stay super late and don't want to drive back. Its really the only way I can get anything done.

Everyone above also gives excellent advice in not bringing patient material home.
 
I have a BX41 at home - love it. I found a good deal on e-bay. Gives me alot more flexibility. Looking to get a camera set up this year to take photos from study sets for use in lectures.
 
Regardless of whether law or the institution which owns the material has specific language addressing the matter, if something happens when material is in your possession, especially when not during the course of "normal duties" (such as working tumor boards which may be away from the main/lab building), you can expect to face the consequences. As soon as someone up the pyramid realizes no specific language addresses it, that fact will probably change, which is likely to make the practicalities of working, teaching, building teaching files, and unfunded research more difficult. These are generally questions that don't need to be pushed, particularly when recognizing the ultraconservative approach taken by most administrators/risk managers when it comes to laying out restrictions.
 
I second the ebay comment above.

Having a home scope is not for everyone, but is very handy when you want to expand your biz reach outside your normal practice setting.
 
There are definitely tons of good, affordable scopes out there with accessories and replacement parts still available, if a generation or so older than the latest hotness.
 
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