Thursday, 26 January 2012

Visiting a Pathology Department

Over the Christmas holidays, I spent some time in the Pathology Department at Musgrove Park Hospital in Taunton. This is often an area of medicine that is forgotten, but most hospital patients and many who visit their GP will have tests done that find their way to a Path Lab. Getting quick and accurate results from these tests is a key part of quick and effective diagnosis. The team I met were very proud of some recent work they had done to dramatically speed up the cytology process. They had done a step-by-step assessment of their process and removed bottle-necks and delays, so that now, patients and their doctors can get their test results much faster. I was also given the opportunity to look down a microscope at some disease cells and compare them to healthy ones. The differences were often obvious, but some weren’t, showing the skill required to interpret the results. I’m looking forward to going back for a longer visit soon!

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