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United States Government Work, uncopyrighted, public-domain,
DRAFT COPY ONLY. This document does not necessarily represent the views
or policies of any United States Government agency.
This document is provided "as is", without warranty of any kind,
express or implied, including but not limited to the warranties
of merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose and
non-infringement. In no event shall the authors be liable
for any claim, damages or other liability, whether in an
action of contract, tort or otherwise, arising from, out of,
or in connection with the document or the use or other dealings
made with the document.
See also: Maintenance policies: 40,
41, 43,
44, 46,
117.
PRINCIPLE OF THE TEST.
Proper routine maintenance of equipment in the Histology laboratory,
for optimal service.
SPECIMEN REQUIRED.
All human tissue excised at surgery, outpatient clinics,
and postmortems, fresh or in fixative, along with a filled-out
Tissue Examination Form
(U. S. Standard Form 515, USSF515).
REAGENTS, INSTRUMENTATION.
Microtomes.
Water baths.
Embedding unit.
Oven.
Small oven.
Tissue processor.
Cryostat.
Refrigerator.
Frozen section staining jars.
Staining dishes.
STEP-BY-STEP DESCRIPTION.
1. MICROTOMES: Daily: Brush off all excess paraffin.
Clean off surfaces with cloth lightly dipped in solvent.
Oil screws and slideways daily.
Disposable microtome blades are kept
in their original container until ready for use.
After use, they are disposed in a SHARPS unit.
Microtome knives are checked to determine
that knives are sharp and free of nicks.
Disposable knives are used and damaged knives are replaced.
2. WATER BATHS: Daily:
Remove all adherent paraffin.
Clean with Septisol to eliminate bacterial growth.
Record temperature.
3. EMBEDDING UNIT: Daily:
Clean off adherent paraffin.
Check temperature.
4. EMBEDDING UNIT: Weekly:
Empty and clean drain pan.
5. EMBEDDING UNIT: Monthly:
Check operation of the back-up unit;
drain and clean paraffin reservoir.
6. OVEN: Daily:
Record temperature.
7. OVEN: Monthly:
Clean all surfaces.
8. SMALL OVEN: Daily:
Record temperature.
9. SMALL OVEN: Monthly:
Clean all surfaces.
10. TISSUE PROCESSOR: Daily:
Check temperature of paraffin pots.
11.TISSUE PROCESSOR: Biweekly:
Remove all pots and clean entire unit.
12. CRYOSTAT: Daily:
Check temperature.
13. CRYOSTAT: Biweekly:
Clean out with disinfectant.
Disposable microtome blades are kept in their original
container until ready for use.
After use, they are disposed in a SHARPS unit.
14. REFRIGERATOR: Daily:
Record temperature.
15. REFRIGERATOR: Monthly:
Clean out with disinfectant.
16. FROZEN SECTION STAINING JARS: Daily:
Check solutions daily and change/add if necessary.
17. FROZEN SECTION STAINING JARS: Biweekly:
Empty and wash all glasses. Replace with fresh solutions.
18. STAINING DISHES: Mid-week:
The last dish of 95% alcohol should become the first dish, and the
last dish should be filled with fresh solution. A similar procedure
should be followed for 100% Flex.
19. STAINING DISHES: Weekly:
Dishes should be washed and solutions replaced with fresh reagents.
Hematoxylin may be held 2 weeks, but should be filtered after 1 week.
20. EQUIPMENT PROBLEMS:
Whenever there is a problem encountered with a piece of equipment,
the problem is entered into the equipment monitor, the supervisor
is notified, a work order is generated in the VistA® Computer System.
See Procedure 7, Step 10.41.
The engineering personnel make an entry into VistA®
documenting the repair/service, including the name of the
piece of equipment (using the equipment PM (preventive maintenance) number,
the date and the service performed. That entry is available
through computer access.
REFERENCES.
1. Berte LM, Charlton BJ, Kirkley B, Schiffgens J,
Wilson JI, Woodcock SM.
Clinical Laboratory Technical Procedure Manuals;
Approved Guideline -- Fourth Edition.
NCCLS Document GP2-A4. 2002;2(5):.
ISBN 1-56238-458-9, 64 pages.
National Committee for Clinical Laboratory Standards (NCCLS).
940 West Valley Road, Suite 1400. Wayne, PA 19087-1898.
... presents the important components of writing and managing procedures
for the clinical laboratory.
2. Hoeltge GA, Dynek DA, Delahunty DC, McClatchey KD,
Rabinovitch A, Robinowitz M, Travers EM.
National Committee for Clinical Laboratory Standards (NCCLS).
Clinical Laboratory Technical Procedure Manuals. Third Edition.
Approved Guideline GP2-A3. 1996;16(15):.
3. Rosai J.
Rosai and Ackerman's Surgical Pathology. Ninth Edition.
St Louis: C.V. Mosby. 2004;:.
ISBN: 0323013422, 3080 pages.
4. Mills SE, Carter D, Greenson JK, Oberman HA,
Reuter VE, Stoler MH, eds.
Sternberg's Diagnostic Surgical Pathology. Fourth Edition.
New York: Lippincott Williams & Wilkins. 2004;:.
ISBN: 0781740517, 3089 pages.