Does this sound familiar?
Mary gets a call from one of her pathologists about some add-on IHC slides that she needs to stain in order to complete a case by 12:00 noon. The pathologist is very particular and expects nothing less than perfect staining. One of Mary’s concerns is that she has very little tissue left in the block for the re-cuts and doesn’t want to waste any of it when she re-faces it.
Once Mary received the slides and was preparing to start the run, she discovers that all three of her IHC instruments trays are in use and won’t be available for several hours. She is now annoyed that 2 of the trays are staining less than the 10 possible slides and she again has to wait until the first tray is finished. She also realizes that a couple of the antibodies she needs are not on her other stainer and she will also need to wait until she can load the needed antibodies. Because of this situation, the slides will be late and she is now behind.
Next, she must dehydrate the slides and get them coverslipped as quickly as possible. Because she uses glass it will take longer to dry and to provide them to the pathologist.