After a protracted waiting period, I am, with the able assistance of one of the experienced PAs and a few of the pathologists, finally training 2 PAs. They are enjoying the opportunity and are gaining much-needed experience at the grossing bench. The formal training will last 4 months and will be complete in the spring. Then the real learning begins (as you all know). I also hope to involve them to a degree in a few autopsies within the next couple of months.
There are finally enough PAs in Kelowna these days to allow me to step away from the grossing bench for a while and to finally brush up some of the grossing procedures. The written procedures will provide standardization of procedures across the Okanagan and will be a valuable resource for all, especially the newly-trained PAs.
The newly-renovated and expanded Kelowna gross room is a welcome change. A downdraft grossing station was fabricated and installed a few months ago and a biological safety cabinet was purchased and installed recently.
Most of the changes made as a result of the Lean process being applied to the Histology lab and gross room have been for the better; some have proved to be in need of further refining. The process will be applied to the clinical labs in the near future. Despite all of the upheaval, the experience has taught a number of us to not be quite so threatened by change; wary maybe, but not threatened. It will be nice if beneficial changes can be applied to some of the other sites. Good news will naturally travel as lessons learned are communicated amongst the group.
Sunday, January 04, 2009
Sunday, August 10, 2008
PA "resource"
I was disappointed and dismayed by the publication of a URL (http://idisk.mac.com/seligl-Public) in the Spring 2008 Canadian Association of Pathologists Newsletter. As many of you know, Canadian PAs own a Section within the CAP and thus, the CAP is, or should be, acquainted with what a PA is, and does. The supposed resource alludes to a PA's most import responsibility being the maintenance of supply inventory in the gross room. The reference is incomplete, superfluous, site-specific and, in fact, insulting to any PA I have ever known, Canadian or American. If, as I suspect, the author is dissatisfied with the performance of his "PAs," he should not be surprised given the low expectation placed upon them and the lack of resources provided to them.
I can only imagine that the editor of the Newsletter did not read the content. My fear is that others may get a skewed idea of that which constitutes a PA. The Key Competencies for PAs, also published on the CAP site (www.cap.medical.org), clearly enumerate the many responsibilities placed upon PAs; illustrating the fact that PAs provide an important part in the care of patients in North American hospitals.
I can only imagine that the editor of the Newsletter did not read the content. My fear is that others may get a skewed idea of that which constitutes a PA. The Key Competencies for PAs, also published on the CAP site (www.cap.medical.org), clearly enumerate the many responsibilities placed upon PAs; illustrating the fact that PAs provide an important part in the care of patients in North American hospitals.
PA "resource"
I was dismayed and disappointed by the inclusion of a URL to supposedly helpful "Pathology Assistant Software" in the
Saturday, May 17, 2008
Happy Spring....and Tazers
Hello everyone! Happy Spring. We survived another winter! Sorry (as I have apologized SO many times before) for the long hiatus between posts. I find myself rejuvenated with the lenghtening days and general spring energy (might it be ... hormones?!).
I have purchased a home in the Okanagan. I ran the BMO Vancouver Marathon on May 4th. All's good.
I hope to have enough cash left over so that I can go to Ottawa for the Can. Assoc. of Pathologists, PA Section meeting in July but quite frankly, I am digging SO deep for the down payment on my new abode that I am somewhat doubtful as to whether I'll be able to afford the air fare, the various fuel surcharges, airport improvement taxes, PST, GST, car rental, etc. I WILL try very hard to go to Ottawa, as much as to attend the meeting as to visit with family and friends.
OK...to the point: what the heck is happening in this country in regards our constabulary? I simply cannot believe the crap that is being flung at the public (roughly equal quantities from the RCMP and the manufacturers of the tazer) regarding the use of these...what are they called?... Directed Energy Weapons. The problem is NOT with the weapons; the problem is with those who use them. The problem is NOT with training; the problem is with the individuals who we, as a society, hire to protect us. We are to blame; not the individual RCMP officer who, first consulting with his superior officer, uses the weapon. I do not profess to be acquainted with the RCMP's criteria for using the weapon but I can't help but think that there is some considerable room for refining the list. What ever happened to simple restraint and disarming the perpetrator using physical force (something which gets used in ample amounts anyway)? Surely the public agrees with me that three RCMP officers tazering an 80 year-old patient IN THE HOSPITAL is grounds for wondering whether we may have given our police too much leeway in the use of these weapons. What, if the poor guy had died (and he may yet die), would the Coroner have to say, I wonder? How about we have the police check their weapons, tazers included, at the door when they come into the hospital? How about we refine the criteria for the tazer's use? How about we train the police (and their superiors) better (they are clearly NOT thinking for themselves and training with clear rules is obviously needed).
How is this issue different from the exposure of our troops treating detainees in questionable ways (if not killing them)? I contend that our police and military behave in exactly the manner in which we permit, if not encourage, them to behave. We, the public, are responsible (not Tazer International; not the RCMP) for how our police behave. Make your feelings known. Call your MP.
I have purchased a home in the Okanagan. I ran the BMO Vancouver Marathon on May 4th. All's good.
I hope to have enough cash left over so that I can go to Ottawa for the Can. Assoc. of Pathologists, PA Section meeting in July but quite frankly, I am digging SO deep for the down payment on my new abode that I am somewhat doubtful as to whether I'll be able to afford the air fare, the various fuel surcharges, airport improvement taxes, PST, GST, car rental, etc. I WILL try very hard to go to Ottawa, as much as to attend the meeting as to visit with family and friends.
OK...to the point: what the heck is happening in this country in regards our constabulary? I simply cannot believe the crap that is being flung at the public (roughly equal quantities from the RCMP and the manufacturers of the tazer) regarding the use of these...what are they called?... Directed Energy Weapons. The problem is NOT with the weapons; the problem is with those who use them. The problem is NOT with training; the problem is with the individuals who we, as a society, hire to protect us. We are to blame; not the individual RCMP officer who, first consulting with his superior officer, uses the weapon. I do not profess to be acquainted with the RCMP's criteria for using the weapon but I can't help but think that there is some considerable room for refining the list. What ever happened to simple restraint and disarming the perpetrator using physical force (something which gets used in ample amounts anyway)? Surely the public agrees with me that three RCMP officers tazering an 80 year-old patient IN THE HOSPITAL is grounds for wondering whether we may have given our police too much leeway in the use of these weapons. What, if the poor guy had died (and he may yet die), would the Coroner have to say, I wonder? How about we have the police check their weapons, tazers included, at the door when they come into the hospital? How about we refine the criteria for the tazer's use? How about we train the police (and their superiors) better (they are clearly NOT thinking for themselves and training with clear rules is obviously needed).
How is this issue different from the exposure of our troops treating detainees in questionable ways (if not killing them)? I contend that our police and military behave in exactly the manner in which we permit, if not encourage, them to behave. We, the public, are responsible (not Tazer International; not the RCMP) for how our police behave. Make your feelings known. Call your MP.
Wednesday, February 06, 2008
a PA for Vernon, BC (continued)...
We seem to have dodged a bullet, so to speak. As it turns out, we aren't in a panic to get an experienced PA for Vernon immediately BUT we are definitely interested in someone who would like to spend a year in Vernon relieving a maternity leave there. You'll see the job posted on the Interior Health website www.interiorhealth.ca Please feel free to give me a ring at (250) 862-4300 (ext. 7273). I look forward to hearing from you.
Saturday, February 02, 2008
lung mass - image of the month
This unfortunate middle-aged woman was found to have developed this lung mass a number of years after having had a skin malignant melanoma excised. The mass invaded a lobar bronchus and compressed a number of peri-hilar vessels; together causing local atalectasis (symptoms of which prompted the chest X-ray).
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