resident making slides

[santender1]

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i have been wanting some information on if residents make the cytology slides at your program. The cytology person quit now I one of 2 residents making slides on daily basis. Please help!

 

[MirkoCrocop]

i have been wanting some information on if residents make the cytology slides at your program. The cytology person quit now I one of 2 residents making slides on daily basis. Please help!

I don't think residents make slides on a routine basis in any program unless it's a frozen. Sounds to me like you're filling in while they find a replacement.

 

[pathstudent]

i have been wanting some information on if residents make the cytology slides at your program. The cytology person quit now I one of 2 residents making slides on daily basis. Please help!

That would be a major acgme violation. Your program is majorly f***** up. So much so that I wonder if I just bit on a bs ex-PCM like post

 

[2121115]

i have been wanting some information on if residents make the cytology slides at your program. The cytology person quit now I one of 2 residents making slides on daily basis. Please help!

Wow. And this is why people think many pathology residency programs need to close down. The whole process is corrupt.

Listen, any program that would do this is not your friend. It is not too late to change programs or change fields altogether.

 

[icpshootyz]

Report them. Contact ACGME. Probably all you can do for the time being.

 

[santender1]

anyone have any references how this is violating acgme ? I need to learn.

 

[KeratinPearls]

anyone have any references how this is violating acgme ? I need to learn.

You need to be learning not doing tech work. You dont really need any references. What are they having you do exactly? Spinning samples down (Thinprep) and staining them?

 

[pathstudent]

anyone have any references how this is violating acgme ? I need to learn.

ACGME rules are posted online.

It is not educational and not part of being a pathologist or a physician in general. If the chemistry person quits, can they ask you to go man the analyzer? If housekeeping gets short staffed, can they have you mop the gross room floor?

 

[2121115]

For ACGME you could make it under "systems based practice".

 

[Circumflex]

Training programs are required to provide adequate support personnel. This includes laboratory staff. You can anonymously report them to the ACGME and they will start an investigation.

 

[IkeBoy18]

ive never witnessed a resident/fellow or staff ever make a slide..and given the complexity of processing specimens.. at least at mdacc.. it would take a year to properly train anyone to process specimens..i can see maybe just staining slides.

the fellows must however...shadow several techs while the tech explains many procedures to them and demonstrates on real samples.. and get checked off by the tech as having witnessed..however what you are doing should be reported..definitely past educational/exposure

 

[LADoc00]

i have been wanting some information on if residents make the cytology slides at your program. The cytology person quit now I one of 2 residents making slides on daily basis. Please help!

Im going to read between the lines on the English here: you are a foriegn non-native M.D.?

Im thinking they basically feel you have no real choice, make slides or back to the motherland when they pull your work visa.

Of course this is outright unethical, but I see regularly even at the attending level.

No surprise. Move along.

 

[Gene_]

It is not unheard of for a pathologist to stain his own FNA slides. Maybe this is what the OP is doing. Maybe not. But regardless, you are probably better off doing what is asked of you than complaining about it.

 

[santender1]

i process the specimen "spin/spin/stain". Is that against regulations?

It is not unheard of for a pathologist to stain his own FNA slides. Maybe this is what the OP is doing. Maybe not. But regardless, you are probably better off doing what is asked of you than complaining about it.

 

[KeratinPearls]

i process the specimen "spin/spin/stain". Is that against regulations?

Hells yeah. Thats a cytotechs job. Let future applicants know what program you're at.

 

[lipomas]

What do you mean "Making cytology slides?" Making the smears when you do an FNA or a clinician does an FNA and squirts it on the slide for you? Because lots of residents do that. Lots of residents don't do that. It's good to learn how to do it. If it's anything more than that it's probably excessive.

Who is "the cytology person." The prep tech? Are you making thin preps? You had only one person qualified to make thin preps? What hospital is this so I can be sure I never get my care there? Is there only one surgeon in the whole hospital too?

 

[santender1]

yes our cytotech is gone. I am making thin preps. is this not part of training ? what can i do?

What do you mean "Making cytology slides?" Making the smears when you do an FNA or a clinician does an FNA and squirts it on the slide for you? Because lots of residents do that. Lots of residents don't do that. It's good to learn how to do it. If it's anything more than that it's probably excessive.

Who is "the cytology person." The prep tech? Are you making thin preps? You had only one person qualified to make thin preps? What hospital is this so I can be sure I never get my care there? Is there only one surgeon in the whole hospital too?

 

[LADoc00]

Just do what you are told Santender1, keep a low profile. Suck it up and take one for the team. Then remind the faculty of this when you apply for jobs.

Dont draw the line here, this is nothing, draw the line at something big...like when they try to volunteer you to be made into the rump end of the Human Centipede...

 

[pathstudent]

I call BS on this thread. This reminds me of that time EX-PCM came on here and claimed he had to mow lawns to feed his family because he couldn't find a job or something like that.

 

[2121115]

I call BS on this thread. This reminds me of that time EX-PCM came on here and claimed he had to mow lawns to feed his family because he couldn't find a job or something like that.

That was epic.

 

[santender1]

I assure you this is really going on. it is not a great experience for me.

That was epic.

 

[IkeBoy18]

yes our cytotech is gone. I am making thin preps. is this not part of training ? what can i do?

ooh youre making thin preps? well in that case ..technically youre not making any slides... the machine is.. but you said in an earlier post that you process b "spin/spin/stain" which is odd.. because.. that would suggest that you pour specimens..centrifuge.. reconcentrate..place in chambers.. spin again.. fix in carnoys or etoh.. and then stain them.. but in the case of thin preps.. the 2nd spin is unnecessary.. because the thin prep machine requires that the specimen be in a certain amount of cytolyte and it will create a monolayer on its own.. soo.. something sounds fishy.. what kind of specimens are you "processing?"

and are you manually processing them or using a thinprep machine? how many of these specimens are you processing a day and by which method?

 

[yaah]

It's not your job to be a prep tech. If your program director is unresponsive to your concerns go to the GME office. If your program is treating you as a prep tech I wouldn't really worry about offending anyone by bringing this up.

 

[KCShaw]

Depends too on how much time you're spending, what exactly you're doing, who else can or is doing it, and whether you're doing other educational activities. Residency is typically full of crap jobs residents really shouldn't be doing, but do anyway to keep the department running/hobbling along. It's part of the institutional motivation to have residents, to assist in service work. Of course, this is primarily meant to be "medical" service work rather than "technical" (though a lot of what pathology residents do can be considered technical, including grossing, since "anyone" could be and sometimes are trained to do it), and somewhere a line should be drawn.. but you have to decide for yourself what the waste factor is, and what the risk vs reward is of doing something about it. Chances are that whatever is 'done' won't happen until you're on another rotation, of course, unless you start jumping up and down immediately and somehow get an immediate response. But if there's no-one else to do it, it still has to be done....

 

[raider]

Abusive, not educational, no other way about it.
The program director should be held accountable.

 

[2121115]

But if you are the whistle blower things will be tough for you. The program will rain down badness upon you. I've seen it happen first hand. LADoc is right. Keep a low profile, kiss ass and the GTFO of there for fellowship. Even if you are in the right, the faculty can ruin you and destroy your reputation if you rock the boat.

 

[raider]

But if you are the whistle blower things will be tough for you. The program will rain down badness upon you. I've seen it happen first hand. LADoc is right. Keep a low profile, kiss ass and the GTFO of there for fellowship. Even if you are in the right, the faculty can ruin you and destroy your reputation if you rock the boat.

Sad but true!
Petty/abusive people invariably carry out their vindictiveness in petty ways. I have the greatest disdain for such low and meanspirited creatures. Their very existence is a curse.

 

[Ombret]

Is this just transitional? Several people have pointed out correctly, this may just be an emergency stopgap measure. Maybe the department is currently cross-training someone else to take over the prep work. They should have a plan to find an actual tech to do this work, and as a resident who is getting shafted in the meantime, and who is supposed to be getting management training, you should be let in on what is happening.

Are there a lot of slides? If it is five a day, that sounds tolerable. If five hundred, obviously no. Are you still getting to look at the slides?

Are the slides still getting screened? If your "cytotech" has quit and you are now having to serve as prep tech, cytotech AND pathologist, that is doubly bad. You are not in MT school or in cytotech school either.

Will you be on cytology for a long time, or is it a one-month rotation? Will you still be the prep tech on May 1?

Regardless of the answers, you should certainly at least speak with your program director about this (and chief/senior residents), but I would tend to agree with those who suggest sucking it up--there are lots of ****ty things that happen in residency. Only you know your program well enough to judge whether making waves will benefit you, or cause more harm than good.

 

[LADoc00]

now we have 2 clear schools of thought on this:

1.) the high and mighty approach of calling the program on this

2.) the survival approach of sucking it up since it isnt that bad

school 1 has the downside risk of being totally thrashed, possibility of no job/recommendation, etc

school 2 has some small menial task as the downside, thats it

putting on the rational cap, which would a sane person choose??

 

[uva1998]

It's definitely not fair. But, unfortunately, life isn't fair. During residency we had to clean up after autopsies.... I mean we did everything. We bagged all of the scrap organs, hauled them to the trash down the hall, thoroughly cleaned all surfaces, and mopped the floor. And we even had two PAs, but the job was considered beneath them. I would love to hear a story of a surgery resident cleaning up the OR after surgery. Obviously, I'm still a little bitter about it, but I sucked it up, kept under the radar, and have come out alive with a great job. So I say, suffer through it, and get a great job. Complaining about the situation may just make it worse. Even if you anonymously complain to the ACGME, the program usually finds out who complained.

 

[gbwillner]

Don't worry dude- just think of it as extra training. When you finish residency and there is no job for you, I'll hire you as a cytotech.

 

[pathstudent]

It's definitely not fair. But, unfortunately, life isn't fair. During residency we had to clean up after autopsies.... I mean we did everything. We bagged all of the scrap organs, hauled them to the trash down the hall, thoroughly cleaned all surfaces, and mopped the floor. And we even had two PAs, but the job was considered beneath them. I would love to hear a story of a surgery resident cleaning up the OR after surgery. Obviously, I'm still a little bitter about it, but I sucked it up, kept under the radar, and have come out alive with a great job. So I say, suffer through it, and get a great job. Complaining about the situation may just make it worse. Even if you anonymously complain to the ACGME, the program usually finds out who complained.

I am a firm believer that my residents or any resident should never do anything that an attesnding wouldn't have to do. I think it is ok to scut residents out to show cases, call clinicians, get more clinical info, go to Histo to find out where the special stains are we ordered, or call to gather prior biopsies as those are all things I would have to do if they were not there. But mopping the autopsy floor is not one of them. That really shows weak leadership on the part of your pd and chair. Truly sad.

 

[raider]

i have been wanting some information on if residents make the cytology slides at your program. The cytology person quit now I one of 2 residents making slides on daily basis. Please help!

You're born, you take ****. You get out in the world, you take more ****. You climb a little higher, you take less ****. Till one day you're up in the rarefied atmosphere and you've forgotten what **** even looks like. Welcome to the layer cake son (From the movie Layer Cake).

Hang in there dude, every dog has its day!

 

[KeratinPearls]

You're born, you take ****. You get out in the world, you take more ****. You climb a little higher, you take less ****. Till one day you're up in the rarefied atmosphere and you've forgotten what **** even looks like. Welcome to the layer cake son (From the movie Layer Cake).

Hang in there dude, every dog has its day!

I cant wait until the day I can say I dont remember what **** looks like!!!

 

[Pathologee]

I cant wait until the day I can say I dont remember what **** looks like!!!

or tastes like.

 

[twentyone]

Totally off topic but Pathologee, how to you pronounce your username? Is it just straightforward "Pathology" or do you say it like you're bungee jumping, as in "PathologEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEeeeeeeeeeeeeeee"
TIA

 

[ALMD2B]

If housekeeping gets short staffed, can they have you mop the gross room floor?

As an FP fellow, and due to county budget cuts, I mop the morgue floor, wipe down body and xray carts, morgue tables, and clean tools etc.

oh golly what fun. 🙂

 

[Ombret]

So santender1, what happened, anyway? Have you gotten out of this? Are you now officially hired as a cyto prep tech?