Do not despair, there are still pathologists and techs out here that are
still from the "old school".  How long have you been in the field?

On Wed, 13 Sep 2000 14:22:07 -0400 (EDT) NLOUISEA@aol.com writes:
> Hi
> We had the same safety issues in a small hospital, brought to 
> everyone's 
> attention by a formalin spill in the OR.  There is now a 
> refrigerator in the 
> OR area so that large specimens can be refrigerated until the next 
> pickup by 
> the  pathology aide.  It's had the added benefit of having the 
> tissue be 
> grossed fresh and bivalved if a uterus or cleaned out and cut if a 
> colon 
> before going into fixative.  
> The pathologist that I first worked for used to go directly to the 
> OR and 
> pick up the large fresh specimens, bring them back to the grossing 
> room and 
> handle them immediately.  We NEVER had a problem with unfixed 
> middles, etc.  
> He also fixed large specimens overnight, including melanomas and 
> lipomas and 
> always fixed decals overnight before decaling them.  It was a real 
> shock for 
> me to learn that all tissue wasn't treated that way! and I've often 
> thought 
> of how fortunate the patients were to have their tissue respected 
> and handled 
> this way and to get the best diagnosis possible.  Sorry to 
> ramble-I'm an old 
> tech. :-)
> Nancy
>