A Closer Look: Pathologists’ Assistants
April 12, 2022
April 10-16 is National Medical Laboratory Week and we’d like to thank our team of laboratory professionals for the important work they do!
HPHA’s laboratory team includes Medical Laboratory Technologists (MLTs), Medical Laboratory Assistant/Technicians (MLA/Ts), Medical Transcriptionists, Pathologists’ Assistants (PAs) and Pathologists. Analysis of tissue samples, blood and body fluids by the laboratory is a significant part of the diagnostic process, allowing physicians to make accurate diagnoses and guide appropriate treatment.
Let’s take a closer look at the role of Pathologists’ Assistant (PAs)!
PAs are highly trained health professionals who work with Pathologists and provide a broad range of services in anatomical pathology. At HPHA PAs help with the examination of surgical specimens to provide detailed reports to a Pathologist. Each day our PAs receive specimens from 16 hospitals as part of the InterHospital Laboratory Partnership, including whole organs, limbs, skin and various types of biopsies.
Surgical specimens are received, sorted, triaged and accessioned at the beginning of the day with the help of a MLA/T. Each specimen is processed to get a gross description (measurements, weight, visual description, sometimes imaging). After the description is complete, some larger cases are inked with tissue marker dye to provide anatomical orientation of margins to the Pathologist. Specimens are sampled by taking 3mm thick sections from areas of concern using a scalpel or long blade knife. From there, specimens are further processed in the Histology laboratory by a MLT and placed on a slide and stained for a Pathologist to review for diagnosis. “The diversity of unique specimens and pathologies definitely keeps the job interesting,” says Jon, Pathologists’ Assistant.
An immense amount of technical work goes on behind the scenes to determine a diagnosis from anatomical tissue. A specimen passes through the hands of at least eight people at various stages between when it is removed from the patient and a final report is issued. Five of these are different types of laboratory professionals alone, including MLA/Ts, MLTs, PAs and Pathologists, all of whom contribute to a single specimen with different skill sets.
L to R: PAs Alison and Jon in the Stratford General Hospital Laboratory’s Grossing Room