Department Overview

OHSU Dermatology is located in the Center for Health & Healing on the South Waterfront in Portland, Oregon. The Department of Dermatology is dedicated to providing our patients the best and most innovative dermatologic care for the broad range of skin, hair, nail, and mucous membrane disorders.

To provide medical lab technician skills to the patients seen in the OHSU Dermatology Surgery Clinic and Dermatopathology Lab. This employee will share in the responsibility of laboratory maintenance and technical skills for clinics stated above, as well as maintaining standards in accordance with OHSU Safety and Infection Control Policies and Procedures as well as OSHA, CAP, and CLIA standards. Performs requirements for Staff Members as outlined in Compliance Roles and Responsibilities in OHSU Hospital and Clinics Policy and Procedure.

Staff member will carry out job responsibilities in an ethical, effective and professional manner and will understand and comply with the Code of Conduct, OHSU and departmental policies and procedures, applicable rules and regulations, etc.

This is a flex with varying hours and work days as needed for coverage. Will require extended work hours to ensure all Mohs cases are completed for the day. Will require working in multiple job site locations.

Function/Duties of Position

Technical duties in surgical dermatology include providing histology services for Mohs Micrographic Surgical patient and Dermatopathology Lab.

This includes:

• cryostat and microtome set up and staining solution preparation
• preparation of frozen and formalin fixed paraffin embedded sections including
  • orienting specimen, mounting, embedding, cutting and staining of tissue specimens, processing with hematoxylin and eosin stains and bone/cartilage preparation.
• Special staining including IHC of FFPE and frozen sections.
• assigns Mohs surgery number for each patient and tumor treated.
• maintains monitoring equipment including refrigeration logs, microscope and equipment maintenance and cleaning of equipment as per OHSU Safety guidelines.
• orders supplies and equipment for laboratory and maintains adequate stock of necessary supplies.
• practices safe laboratory practices and precautions per laboratory manuals and safety and infection control guidelines.
• laboratory instrumentation/equipment set up and reagent preparation.
• gross description, dissection, and orientation of patient tissue, appropriate to facilitate optimal diagnostic quality of tissue slide production.
• transcribes grossing data into specimen case in LIS.
• in addition, utilizes custom techniques, as described by laboratory management, to provide a high-quality product meeting the diagnostic needs of the reading dermatopathologists.
• assures information fidelity throughout the entire laboratory process, correlating all paperwork with associated patient specimen(s).
• organizes, labels, and files slides, blocks, and paperwork.
• general cleaning of laboratory
• communicates any issues to manager and coworkers in a timely and appropriate manner.
• other duties as assigned by supervisor.

Preparation of tissue specimens for immunofluorescence per manual protocol including proper handling of biopsy specimens, specimen washing, appropriate orientation of specimens and sections.

• Control slide preparation according to protocol.
• Maintains proper documentation including DIF control sheet, positive DIF control log, incident reports when indicated, corrective action forms as needed and all other documentation as per protocol in manual.
• Communicates with and mails handling solutions to requesting referring physicians.
• Registration and Accessioning.
  • Act as registration point by gathering and/or verifying patient information including demographics, insurance coverage and financial status.
  • Confirm patient eligibility for health care coverage and clarify any managed care arrangements.
  • Use Lab Information System as pivot point for distribution of demographic, referral, clinical, and pathology-resulting data to multiple sources, including OHSU Medical Group and referring physicians.
  • Transcribe from dictation or written word in to a variety of hospital and departmental applications, verifies correct ICD10 and CPT codes for billing.

Maintains proper documentation in laboratory including proper logs of all incoming and outgoing specimens including mailing slides back to referring physicians and outside laboratories

• Responsible for quality assurance projects as per Manager and laboratory director
• Maintains records and adheres to OSHA/CLIA/Joint Commission guidelines
• Organises, labels, and files slides, blocks, and paperwork.

Works within the Laboratory Information System to track laboratory materials and data related to individual cases

Required Qualifications

• A Bachelor's degree in Chemistry, Biology, or Microbiology, or related field and one year of experience in a medical laboratory and HT or HTL ASCP registry upon hire OR
• Two years of experience performing embedding, microtomy and histologic staining; preparing reagents, and stains; performing standardized laboratory tests and examinations; and assisting occasionally in more complex testing;
• Two years of experience performing embedding, microtomy (frozen and or FFPE tissues) and histologic staining; preparing reagents, and stains; performing standardized laboratory tests and examinations; and assisting occasionally in more complex testing
• Experience in preparing and using reagents, test media, stains; performing standardized laboratory tests and examinations.
• Proficiency with cutting tissue in cryostat.
• Proficiency in processing tissue for immunofluorescence studies.
• A high degree of accuracy and quality of laboratory work is required.
• Compliance with Code of Conduct, Respect in the workplace and Applicable policies, procedures and agreements related to position, department or OHSU as a whole
• Must be able to perform the essential functions of the position with or without accommodation

Additional Details

• This position works in a busy clinic setting with frequent interuptions, multiple demands and people interactions. It requires the ability to deal with noise and frequent interruption within the work group. The work environment carries risk of exposure to human tissue/fluids and chemicals.
• This is a flex with varying hours and work days as needed for coverage. Will require extended work hours to ensure all Mohs cases are completed for the day. Will require working in multiple job site locations.
• This position requires frequent intervals of walking, standing, sitting and bending for periods of up to four hours at a time. Heavy use of lab equipment, computer, phones, fax and digital photos.
• Ability to lift and carry at least 25 lbs. Ability to speak clearly, demonstrate patience and understanding of customer needs. Must be able to deal with competing needs and priorities of patients, internal and external customers

All are welcome