Senior Pathologists' Assistant, Anatomic Pathology - FT - Day

Make a difference every single day!

At Cedars-Sinai, we're motivated by a collective spirit of innovation and the challenge to continuously improve. Above all, we share a real passion for helping others. Day after day, from department to department, our people give their all to create a community unlike any other. This is just one of the many reasons U.S. News & World Report has named us one of America’s Best Hospitals—and now we invite you to join us and make a difference every single day in service of this outstanding work – excellence and innovation in patient care, research, and community service. From working with a team of dedicated professionals to using state-of-the-art facilities, you’ll have great resources to do something incredible—for yourself, and for others.

What will you be doing in this role?

The Senior Pathologists' Assistant is a professional person who is qualified by academic and practical training to provide service in Anatomic Pathology, as well as provide case review, guidance, education and training to other staff,  Responsibilities include dissecting and grossly describing tissue specimens, assisting with and teaching pathology dissection techniques to residents, performing autopsies, assisting with frozen section services, procuring tissue for research, coordinating teaching conferences and organizing and maintaining teaching materials. Duties may also include assisting with QA statistics reports and clinical research. Performs all job duties with sensitivity and attention to the developmental issues of the patient population(s) being served. May consult on more complex cases with management and/or physician.

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Primary Duties and Responsibilities:

• Performs gross examination and dissection of surgical tissue using strong anatomy knowledge and prosection skills to submit representative sections for histologic examination and provides biopsy grossing services. 
• Assists pathologists and residents in the Intraoperative Consultation Suite (IOC) with tasks such as cutting frozen sections, performing touch preps, staining slides, and freezing muscle/nerve tissue. Also assists with postmortem examinations and autopsies, including Coroner's cases.
• Responsible for quality assurance, education, re-education, and training of anatomical pathology staff. Provides input and guidance to Pathologist Assistants and other staff, oversees training of new employees, and manages the daily care and maintenance of the grossing room, IOC, or autopsy areas.
• Collaborates with faculty and scientists to procure tissue for research and education, developing and implementing new procedures and quality assurance protocols.
• Operates and maintains laboratory equipment such as grossing stations, tissue processors, cryostats, ovens, fridges, freezers, cassette printers, digital x-ray systems, and other equipment. Provides input to troubleshoot issues and assists with preventative maintenance.
• Assists with the triaging of specimens to ensure efficient workflow, tissue processing, and adherence to histology production standards and case turnaround time.
• Advocates for voice recognition software and contributes to CAP worksheets updates, auto text/template creation, and modifications.
• Accurately identifies specimens, labels samples with at least two identifiers, and follows protocols to ensure patient/specimen safety and quality outcomes.
• Provides high-quality gross examination descriptions, adheres to grossing templates and inking protocols, takes high-quality x-ray images, annotates diagrams, and submits required special studies.
• Documents cassettes submitted, orders appropriate histology protocols, ensures correct tissue size for processing, and reviews/edits specimen panels and billing codes.
• Documents Non-Conforming Events (NCEs) initiates problem-solving activities and takes corrective action when necessary.
• Writes and revises policies and procedures, supports the implementation of new processes, and provides educational experience with prosection procedures and techniques.
• Collaborates with subspecialty directors to write and edit CAP worksheets and gross templates to ensure compliance with regulatory requirements.
• Assists management in ensuring compliance with federal, state, and local laws and regulations, including quality assurance and safety requirements.
• Handles special projects or assignments as needed.

• Performs gross examination and dissection of surgical tissue using strong anatomy knowledge and prosection skills to submit representative sections in cassettes for histologic examination and provides biopsy grossing services. Consult on complex cases with management and/or Physicians. May provide input on day to day operations.
• Assists pathologists and residents with range of services provided in the Intraoperative Consultation Suite (IOC) such as cutting frozen sections, performing touch preps and staining slides, performing gross examination with proper documentation, annotating images and diagrams, and freezing muscle/nerve tissue. Assists pathologists and residents with performance of postmortem examination and autopsy, which includes ancillary services such as Coroner's cases.
• Responsible for providing quality assurance, education, re-education and training to anatomical pathology staff. Review cases to provide input and/or guidance to Pathologist Assistants and other staff. Oversees training of new employees and house staff for all aspects of Grossing Room, IOC, or Autopsy services. Oversees daily care and maintenance of the grossing room, IOC, or Autopsy areas.
• Procures tissue for research and education by collaborating with faculty and scientists to develop and implement new procedures and quality assurance protocols.
• Operates and maintains select laboratory equipment such as grossing station, automated saw, tissue processors, cryostats, ovens, fridges, freezers, cassette printers, digital x-ray systems and other select equipment. Provides input to troubleshoot equipment issues and helps with preventative and routine maintenance.
• Assists with the appropriate triaging of specimens to ensure efficient workflow and tissue processing to meet histology production standards and overall case turn around time.
• Advocates for use of voice recognition software. CAP worskheets updates, autotext/template creation and modifications.
• Accurately identifies specimens and labels samples completely, using at least two identifiers, at each step of the laboratory process to ensure patient/specimen safety and quality outcomes.
• Provides high quality gross examination description, adheres to grossing templates and inking protocols, takes high quality x-ray images and photography with proper diagram annotation, and submits required special studies.
• Accurately documents correct number of cassettes submitted, orders correct histology protocols, submits tissue of correct size for appropriate tissue processing and embedding, reviews/edits specimen panel and billing codes.
• Documents Non-Conforming Events (NCEs), initiates problem-solving activities, resolves discrepancies, and takes corrective action procedures.
• Writes and revises policies and procedures; supports implementation of new processes. Provides appropriate educational experience with prosection procedures and techniques.
• Works with subspecialty directors to write and edit CAP worksheets for diagnostic reporting and gross templates to ensure compliance with regulatory requirements.
• Assists management with compliance with all federal, state and local laws and regulations, including quality assurance and safety requirements.
• Special projects or assignments.

Requirements:

• Master's Degree from an accredited Pathologists' Assistant program.
• Pathologists Assistant Certification, Issued by ASCP.
• Five (5) years of experience as Pathologists' Assistant.
• Three (3) years of experience at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, preferred. 

** Note: We will also consider entry-level candidates (including PAs without prior experience) for non-senior roles. **