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Tissue Specimen Documentation, Record Keeping, and Sample Storage

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Mohs Micrographic Surgery

Abstract

A busy practice specializing in Mohs micrographic surgery (MMS) will treat several dozen or more patients and generate hundreds or perhaps even thousands of frozen section pathology slides in a typical week. Over a year, this means that a practice must manage tens of thousands of glass slides in addition to the paper or electronic documentation associated with each patient. A single mislabeled, lost, or switched specimen may lead to devastating consequences for a patient. To reduce and prevent medical errors, developing a detailed plan for handling this volume of frozen section pathologic specimens is necessary. This chapter highlights the importance of proper methods for documentation, storage, and record keeping that are vital to providing high-quality care for patients undergoing MMS.

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Notes

  1. 1.

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Abbreviations

AAD:

American Academy of Dermatology

CLIA:

Clinical Laboratory Improvement Amendments

CLSI:

Clinical and Laboratory Standards Institute

MMS:

Mohs micrographic surgery

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Acknowledgment

We thank Audrey Anderson, Mayo Clinic Department of Dermatology and Department of Laboratory Medicine and Pathology, for her assistance in the preparation of this manuscript.

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© 2012 Springer-Verlag London Limited

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Youse, J.S., Cook-Norris, R.H., Knudson, R.M., Roenigk, R.K., Roenigk, R.K. (2012). Tissue Specimen Documentation, Record Keeping, and Sample Storage. In: Nouri, K. (eds) Mohs Micrographic Surgery. Springer, London. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4471-2152-7_14

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4471-2152-7_14

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  • Print ISBN: 978-1-4471-2151-0

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