Altru Health System - Grand Forks, ND
posted 8 months ago
The Pathology Assistant (PA) at Altru Health plays a crucial role in the pathology department, working under the direct or indirect supervision of a Pathologist. This position involves assisting in the preparation and performance of surgical specimen dissections and frozen section dissections, ensuring accurate gross description dictation. The PA is actively engaged in problem-solving, quality assurance, quality control monitoring, and instrument maintenance, contributing to the overall excellence in patient care. High-level customer service skills are essential for establishing and enhancing positive relationships with pathologists, co-workers, providers, and other stakeholders. In this role, the PA is responsible for maintaining the accuracy of patient identification on all specimens processed for microscopic examination. They perform surgical specimen dissections on a range of specimens, providing quality material for routine histology studies and other specialized tests as required. The PA is expected to obtain pathologist input for accurate gross specimen analysis when appropriate and to perform frozen sections while maintaining the cryostats. Additionally, the PA must dictate complete and accurate gross descriptions and demonstrate effective communication skills to provide timely result reporting by interacting with pathologists and providers in a professional manner. The position also requires ensuring proper maintenance of equipment, adequate provision of supplies, and cleanliness of the surgical pathology gross cutting area and morgue. The PA disposes of tissues and reagents according to standard operating procedures and performs, interprets, and reports tests for which they have been validated. They must demonstrate knowledge and skills to interpret various clinical presentations of disease and apply this knowledge in conjunction with laboratory test findings to achieve timely and accurate diagnostic results. The PA is expected to understand the technical aspects of Anatomic Pathology, recognize reasons for discrepant test results, and take appropriate corrective action to facilitate quality results. They will also perform and document quality control and routine preventive maintenance processes, keeping the gross bench procedure manual current along with a review of CAP compliance. Other duties may be assigned as needed to meet the needs of the department and organization.