Pathologist Assistant - Pathology - Bayfront Hospital

Surgical Pathology

• Preanalytical Tasks:

  • Assure proper specimen collection and submission prior to accessioning.
  • Assist clinicians with specimen collection questions, triage of limited samples, and esoteric testing.
  • Assure appropriate specimen accessioning and/or verification of unique patient identifiers.
  • Assure proper specimen handling and fixation prior to processing.
  • Obtain and review pertinent clinical information and history, including imaging studies, laboratory results, and operative records.
  • Discuss cases and history with surgeons, clinicians, and pathologists.

• Macroscopic Description and Dissection:

  • Perform the macroscopic description and dissection of all surgical specimens ranging from simple to complex cases including pertinent macroscopic information for the staging of complex cancer cases.

• Tissue Sampling:

  • Prepare and submit tissue sections for light microscopy.
  • Obtain samples for ancillary studies including, but not limited to:
  • Tumor triage
  • Lymphoma protocol
  • Flow cytometric analysis
  • Immunofluorescence
  • Immunohistochemistry
  • Microbial cultivation
  • Molecular microbiology
  • Cytogenetic analysis
  • Electron microscopy
  • Tissue banking and clinical trials
  • Research
  • Microarray
  • Institutional tumor registries

• Surgical Pathology Special Procedures:

  • Decalcification
  • Frozen section (tissue selection, dissection, embedding, mounting, cutting/staining, coverslipping)
  • Intraoperative consultation for evaluation of macroscopic specimen adequacy and margins
  • Muscle biopsy preparation
  • Assessment of renal biopsy specimens for adequacy by evaluation of the presence of glomeruli
  • Nerve biopsy orientation and preparation
  • Heart and other transplant biopsy preparation
  • Bone marrow aspirate and biopsy preparation
  • Touch preparations/imprints/squash preparations
  • Tumor mapping
  • Bone saw operation

• Imaging:

  • Specimen photomacrography
  • Photomicrography
  • Specimen radiography
  • Slide scanning

• Postanalytical Tasks:

  • Review of macroscopic description transcription.
  • Microscopic triage of surgical pathology cases for quality control and quality assurance purposes.
  • Coding
  • Verify the accuracy and editing of CPT codes.
  • Assign, review, and edit SNOMED codes.
  • Store and properly dispose of specimens.
  • Assist in the organization and coordination of surgical pathology conferences.
  • Assure proper maintenance of equipment and provision of adequate supplies.

Qualifications

• Master’s degree in Pathology Assistant or equivalent required.

• None required.

• Required: ASCP BOC Pathologists’ Assistant Certified preferred.