At 04:28 PM 11/15/01 -0800, Jennifer MacDonald wrote:
>While a relaxed atmosphere is nicer to work in this is not always a reality.
>Many employees will take advantage of the situation.  Having worked in
>management I can tell you that there are employees that need guidelines for
>productivity.  

I completely agree with you here.  However... [read on]..

>CAP has requirements for turn-around-time and patients have
>expectations of prompt results.  In a clinical setting without productivity
>guidelines this is difficult to manage.  

Yep, I agree that there needs to be SOME amount of stress placed on the
people in the workplace... heck NOTHING would ever get done if it was
totally relaxed.  But neither can there be this feeling of being pushed all
the time, of being placed under the microscope.  BALANCE is the key word...
balance between the relaxed environment and the productivity fiends.  

Anything that dehumanizes human beings is wrong, plain and simple.   Bean
counters are great with figuring out how to balance a check book or a cost
analysis scheme, but when it comes to productivity, it appears they haven't
a clue that money and machines are NOT the model by which human beings
should be measured.  Frankly, I think the bean counters need to get a
hobby.  It seems THEY have too much time on their hands if they are so
concerned about something like this.   

Roxanne Soto said it well...

>Can they cut, embed, file, coverslip, stain, and handle the stress?  Can
they read and follow a >protocol?  Do they ask questions if they need help?
 Can they do any of these items without >excessive complaining?  Then they
are probably OK.
  
Now, isn't that the bottom line for what is trying to be accomplished?  Who
cares how much time it takes to do the several little tasks that a tech
does in a day?  If the work is done in a timely manner  and is done
correctly that's all that should matter. 

'nuff said.

Connie McManus
Thought for the day:   "who are THEY and why are THEY always the ones in
charge???" 

Guidelines are not quotas but
>expections of what should be accomplished.  Will everybody meet these
>everyday, probably not.  There are always things that can go wrong, but can
>it be accomplished most days? I had an employee who saw nothing wrong with
>taking 6 hours to embed 100 blocks.  Guidelines were necessary.
>
>Jennifer MacDonald
>
>
>
>> I think somebody needs to be clued in that the most productive work
>> environment is the relaxed and happy environment.  Stressed out workers,
>> regardless of the type of work they're doing, are not as productive as
>> happy, stress-free workers.  So, if people are being timed to see how much
>> they can produce in a given period of time,  that is putting stress on the
>> worker.  If the worker feels they must produce x amount in y time period,
>> that is even more stressful.  Worse, it's demeaning.  It's putting human
>> beings on par with machinery.  Machines can be made to perform like this,
>> but people just DON'T.
>>
>> This really has to be the child of the bean counter from Hell.
>>
>> just yakkin
>> Connie McManus
>>
>> At 03:46 PM 11/15/01 -0500, Amos Brooks wrote:
>> >Hi,
>> >    I really don't like putting time expectations on things like this
>with
>> >out foreknowledge of specifics. 100 OB/GYN blocks would take a hell of a
>lot
>> >longer than 100 prostate biopsies. Embedding 100 "prostate chips" blocks
>> >would take a lot longer than 100 breasts. If all the blocks were EXACTLY
>the
>> >same size and EXACTLY the same type of tissue, with EXACTLY the same
>amount
>> >of fatty tissue, perhaps you could justify a quota.
>> >    Then there is the whole quality of work factor. We used to race to
>see
>> >who could coverslip the most slides per minute. It was interesting to
>note
>> >that usually the fastest worker often had the most bubbles after a half
>> >hour. The same could be said of wrinkles in sections. The slowest was,
>> >admittedly, not the best, but the ideal was obviously not time dependent.
>> >    Putting expectations on the time it takes to complete these tasks is
>is
>> >really subjective and inherently flawed. The only way to ensure that
>people
>> >are really working to their potential is to sit and work next to them and
>> >keep chattering and goofing off to a minimum. Rather than saying "You're
>the
>> >slowest tech here" one should look at the worker and try to teach some
>time
>> >saving methods.
>> >Put the stopwatch down and step away from the whipped tech.
>> >Amos Brooks
>> >
>> >----- Original Message -----
>> >From: "Clarke Ian" 
>> >To: "histonet" 
>> >Sent: Thursday, November 15, 2001 12:54 PM
>> >Subject: Performance indicators.
>> >
>> >
>> >> I am interested in trying to assess a performance level for some of the
>> >> standard procedures in a Histology and Cytology laboratory.These
>include ,
>> >> embedding,trimming,cutting and mounting of slides.I thus would like to
>> >> survey what other people think is realistic and doing in practise.
>> >
>> >
>> >
>>
>> Veterinary Diagnostics Lab
>> Utah State University
>> Logan, UT
>> USA
>> (435) 797-1891
>> fax (435) 797-2805
>>
>
>

Veterinary Diagnostics Lab
Utah State University
Logan, UT
USA
(435) 797-1891
fax (435) 797-2805