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Pathologists' Assistant; Virginia Commonwealth University Health System, USA

Biggest challenge in pathology? Molecular and genetic studies are heavily increasing, which leads to more tasks for attendings, as well as residents and PAs, in the lab. When you add the increasing specimen volume, and even autopsy volume, being able to accomplish the workload, in addition to providing quality education to training residents, rotating medical students, observers, and anyone else in the lab, is becoming increasingly difficult. The residents are also stretched for time in signout, and have more tasks and responsibilities to accomplish throughout their day and night that can take time away from studying.

Greening the lab? As someone who has always tried my best to “reduce, reuse, recycle”, I was immediately shocked at the waste within anatomic pathology labs during my PA training. I see a lot of value in some of the waste in terms of maintaining patient safety. However, as the gross room and autopsy suite are not at all sterile, I think many resources could be shared and reused. In some labs I have worked in, each specimen cup also comes in its own plastic biohazard bag. Instead, we could probably manage a reusable bin system or shared bags, or at the very least reuse clean bags instead of immediately throwing them out. 

At my current hospital, most of us in AP use towels that can be laundered for multiple uses, which cuts down on waste. I have also worked in labs that provide washable white coats instead of disposable lab coats. With current electronic records and information systems, there can be significantly less paper usage, although I think many of us are still reliant on hard copies.

Raising the profile? In my experience at various hospital systems, I have found that neither patients nor hospital employees understand the importance and value of pathology. I think that educating those working in the hospital of exactly what we do could help immensely, because they could then educate their patients. Instead, I think there are a lot of vague statements like “we’ll send this to the lab” and it appears to go off into the ether. Perhaps educational tables set up with volunteers who are passionate about what they do who can talk to passersby, including some demonstrations could help. For example, my best friend is a registered nurse, and so she is able to explain to her patients that biopsy results may take a day or two, because she has come to understand the process through me.