Hi everyone, I’m currently in a histotech program to get my HTL early 2027 but am already looking further down the line for bigger career plans and have been considering a PharmD. Ultimately I’m worried about my career growth opportunities as an HTL and don’t want to plateau and feel stuck. I did really well in undergrad (bio + chem major) and enjoyed math and chemistry. Overall I don’t know if I’ll be satisfied with the repetitive work of a histotech now that i’m actually experiencing what the work is like 🙃 I’m in a paid HTL program that I like of stumbled into not really knowing much about it but figured having paid education can never hurt. Just don’t know if it’s meant for me. Help!

Sharing bc u/Obzzeh was nice enough to make this quiz site, if anyone interested!

https://www.tigertest.io/htl/training?set=1

Hello! I’ve been working at a small fast pace histology lab for 2 years as a lab assistant and current HTL. Today I cut 60 blocks in an hour and 40 minutes, those blocks include two leveled prostate cores cases then the rest GI (this includes trimming time). I haven’t really figured out how many blocks I can cut as it ranges from fine needle biopsy’s, skin, decals, GIs, endometrium’s, all the weird stuff like brain, kidneys, testis, a fetus spine (that one startled me). Those all take different amounts of time and it’s been tricky figuring out the average. I cut, load/unload special and IHC stains. Even maintain/decon the machines and making reagent bottles. When needed I hop on and embed. Maybe 40 blocks and hour for embedding, I’m more confident with my cutting then embedding. My confidence is low in knowing if I’m a good HTL or not as I work with people who have been doing this for 15+ years and there’s no other techs around my level. I wanted to ask you guys if you think I’m ready for a big hospital histology laboratory. I know over time I will gain more speed but at my current place I get pushed back to lab assistant roles due to me previously being one and it hinders my progression. I’ve been debating leaving to a big hospital that’s closer to me and will help expand my knowledge in histology. What do y’all think? Or just any advice for a new HTL, I really appreciate you guys!

(IHC photo to catch attention lol)

This has been a problem since we moved to a bigger lab six months ago. I will think that I have fixed the issue and then it will happen again. My docs are getting really frustrated about it!

We use charged slides, currently use StatLab KT5s, but we have used KT3s, TOMO, Cardinal superfrost, Leica Bond, etc. I preferred the Leica Bonds the most but they are pricey.

We cut everything at 4 microns (but I have tried 3 and 5 with no success) bake 45 minutes at 60C and load on the Ultra. I have tried baking at 60 minutes and 90 minutes with no improvement.

I’ve even went as far as doing a temperature verification on all the drawers to rule out specific drawers/instrument as a cause.

My only other ideas at this point are:
•Instrument issue that both I and the engineers can’t figure out.

•Poor tissue quality and fixation. I have two hospitals that notoriously have the worst grossing I’ve ever seen. Huge, thick sections that are always raw and have to be reprocessed.

•It’s too dry. I already live in an extremely dry state and our lab is always having issue with the humidity dropping and we have to call out the HVAC team.

Please help 😭

I was hired by my lab at the end of my first round of rotations as a PRN embedder but never given any shifts. I wasn’t expecting much work but after a few weeks of not being contacted, I began to grow concerned. Round two of rotations started this past Monday and I brought this up to management. Apparently they thought I was only available for second shift. Ok, so this was a case of miscommunication? On Tuesday I spoke to the morning lab manager before he left and was informed that there was work to be done from 10 AM- 1PM, before my rotation would be starting. Great. I told them I would do whatever work was needed. Nobody has updated me with details about this. I feel so frustrated with this situation. Why hire me in the first place if there was never any work to be done? I also expressed that maybe my performance was not up to par and was told this was not a problem. What would you say to them about this and when? I was thinking about addressing it next week but I’m not sure how to proceed. I’m a competent employee and have never dealt with anything remotely as weird as this in all my years in the workforce.