Clinical pathology: Difference between revisions

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{{Question|title=Retention time|subsection=yes}}(You may skip this question if you don't expect to ever be part of laboratory management in the US.)
{{Question|title=Retention time|subsection=yes}}(You may skip this question if you don't expect to ever be part of laboratory management in the US.)


You work in a pathology department in the United States, which is accredited by the College of American Pathologists (CAP). Your local procedure manual states that non-forensic paraffin-embedded blocks must be retained for at least 10 years before being thrown away. In order to save storage space, it is suggested that the retention time is reduced to 5 years. You look up the issue, and find that the U.S. law states that such blocks must be retained for at least 2 years. Is it acceptable to reduce the retention time of non-forensic paraffin-embedded blocks to 5 years in this case?
You work in a pathology department in the United States, which is accredited by the College of American Pathologists (CAP). Your local procedure manual states that non-forensic paraffin-embedded blocks must be retained for at least 10 years before being thrown away. In order to save storage space, one suggestion that gets brought up is to reduce the retention time to 5 years. You look up the issue, and find that the U.S. law states that such blocks must be retained for at least 2 years. Is it acceptable to reduce the retention time of non-forensic paraffin-embedded blocks to 5 years in this case?
*'''Answer''': This pathology department is accredited by CAP, whose requirements commonly exceed those of the U.S. law, in this case stating at least 10 years for non-forensic paraffin-embedded blocks, and therefore it is ''not'' acceptable to reduce the retention time as suggested.
*'''Answer''': This pathology department is accredited by CAP, whose requirements commonly exceed those of the U.S. law, in this case stating at least 10 years for non-forensic paraffin-embedded blocks, and therefore it is ''not'' acceptable to reduce the retention time as suggested.


Revision as of 12:46, 27 May 2022

Author: Mikael Häggström, M.D. [note 1]

Topics with own articles

Lab management

Lab management is essentially about handling each of the extremely various situations that arise, and can generally be achieved by:

Common sense
Gathering enough information before a decision
Identifying what questions needs answering
Looking up relevant information in proper sources and/or asking proper expertise.

Test question

Retention time

(You may skip this question if you don't expect to ever be part of laboratory management in the US.)

You work in a pathology department in the United States, which is accredited by the College of American Pathologists (CAP). Your local procedure manual states that non-forensic paraffin-embedded blocks must be retained for at least 10 years before being thrown away. In order to save storage space, one suggestion that gets brought up is to reduce the retention time to 5 years. You look up the issue, and find that the U.S. law states that such blocks must be retained for at least 2 years. Is it acceptable to reduce the retention time of non-forensic paraffin-embedded blocks to 5 years in this case?

  • Answer: This pathology department is accredited by CAP, whose requirements commonly exceed those of the U.S. law, in this case stating at least 10 years for non-forensic paraffin-embedded blocks, and therefore it is not acceptable to reduce the retention time as suggested.

For quick look-up in the future, the following are the most relevant retention times, as given by U.S. law[1] as well as by CAP[2]:

Microscopy slides Histology and non-forensic autopsy 10 years[1]
Forensic autopsy Indefinitely[1]
Cytology, fine needle aspiration 10 years[2]
Cytology, apart from fine needle aspiration 5 years[1]
Paraffin-embedded blocks Non-forensic 2[1] or 10 years[2]
Forensic Indefinitely[1]
Requisition form and test report Pathology reports 10 years[1]
Other 2 years[1]
Blood bank records Quality control records 5 years[2]
Donor and recipient records 10 years[2]
Records of indefinitely deferred donors Indefinitely[2]
Wet tissues Until report is completed[1] or 2 weeks thereafter[2]
Proficiency testing records and quality management/quality control records 2 years[1]
Discontinued procedures 2 years[1]
Blood smears and other body fluid smears, microbiology slides (including Gram stains) 7 days[2]
Flow cytometry plots 10 years[2]

Notes

  1. ↑ For a full list of contributors, see article history. Creators of images are attributed at the image description pages, seen by clicking on the images. See Patholines:Authorship for details.

Main page

References

  1. ↑ 1.00 1.01 1.02 1.03 1.04 1.05 1.06 1.07 1.08 1.09 1.10 . 42 CFR § 493.1105 - Standard: Retention requirements.. Cornell Law School. [68 FR 3703, Jan. 24, 2003; 68 FR 50723, Aug. 22, 2003]
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 2.6 2.7 2.8 . CAP Policy Manual - Policy PP. Minimum Period of Retention of Laboratory Records and Materials. CAP.org. Adopted August 1995. Revised September 2020

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