I took the exam when it was first offered, when it was a Specialist exam
with 100 questions. It's now a Qualification exam with 50 questions. But I
don't think it has changed that much, just fewer questions.
If you haven't been to the ASCP website on the Safety Exam, do that first.
http://ascp.org/Board-of-Certification/Qualification#tabs-0
Make certain you meet eligibility requirements, and can document it.
Under the Studying tab, there is information on reading list and the topic
outline.
- In addition to the books listed to read, I would get the Dapson and Dapson
book on Hazardous Material in the Histopathology Laboratory. I bought mine
from Anatech Ltd (www.anatechltdusa.com), but I think it's available through
Amazon, also.
- I did go to many of the websites they now list (back then, they didn't
list websites, so I looked them up). And then looked up the topics under
CDC, OSHA, NFPA, etc.
- I also looked up information under companies, such as chemical hoods and
biological hoods - many of the companies that sell them have a lot of good
information as to how they are made, types of filters, air flow patterns,
and remember to look up both chemical and biological (and sub-categories).
- NSH has an on-line self-assessment booklet on Safety - a little over 100
multiple choice questions that you can either study from or test yourself
on. Good explanations after it gives you the correct answer. Self-Assessment
#14. (Disclaimer - I was editor on the booklet. I wrote it after I had taken
the SLS exam. I pulled the questions not from the exam, but from all my
study notes I had pulled together. I don't get any money from the
self-assessment - NSH gets it.) It's $35, you can retake the exam as many
times as you want over a 2 year period. I think you can earn continuing
education credits from NSH for taking the exam, but I don't remember how
many CE's it is worth.
http://www.softconference.com/nsh/NSHCourseList.asp
I also read our hospital's policies written by our safety department,
epidemiology, and clinical pathology. Realize that ASCP is writing safety
questions for ALL labs, so it's important to know clinical pathology (CP)
safety - microbiology including some of the common genus/species of common
dangerous infections (yersinia pestis = plague), packaging/shipping of tubes
of blood, blood safety in general. In fact, when I took it, more of the
questions related to CP safety than to anatomic pathology (AP) safety. Maybe
I just was in a pocket of CP questions. But afterwards, I did look up who
was on the ASCP safety exam committee who wrote the questions, and I think
there were 5 CP techs/pathologists, and only 1 AP histotech. (But remember,
many questions are both AP and CP - fire, acid cabinets, first aid, etc.)
Definitely know your organizations - a whole alphabet of agencies.
Hope this helps. As Safety Officer of Anatomic Pathology, I was always
worried that something might happen, and someone would get hurt. And that
they might sue the hospital, the department and/or me. And I could see a
lawyer asking me "And what makes YOU qualified to be a Safety Officer?" Any
my answer of - "well, no one else wanted the job that doesn't pay you any
extra, and I don't know how to say no" would not go over very well with a
jury. So I figured having passed the ASCP exam would give me some
credentialing as being qualified to be a safety officer.
Peggy A. Wenk, HTL(ASCP)SLS
-----Original Message-----
From: Adesupo, Adesuyi (Banjo)
Sent: Thursday, December 26, 2013 1:53 PM
To: histonet@lists.utsouthwestern.edu
Subject: [Histonet] LABORATORY SAFETY TEST
Hi,
I am interested in doing the ASCP qualification in laboratory safety
test and I will appreciate it, if you guys in histoland could assist/help me
with some hints on how to prepare for this test.
Thanking you all for your anticipated cooperation.
Banjo Adesuyi, BSMT, HT (ASCP), HTL (ASCP), QIHC (ASCP)
Histology Supervisor
Norman Regional Health System,
Norman, OK 73071.
Tel: 405- 307- 1145
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