Quick Start Guide

Thank you for choosing Rabkin Dermatopathology Laboratory! To provide the fastest possible service, this guide may explain some procedures that may be helpful to you.

Rabkin Dermatopathology supplies referring physicians with our lab supplies at no charge. These supplies can include three types of specimen containers (based on the specimen size) - no refrigeration is required. Specimens should be placed in the appropriate formalin container as soon as possible after removal. Tissue for direct immunofluorescence studies should be placed in IF medium (Michel's medium) containers only. When direct immunofluorescence study is being requested, the specimen should never be in contact with any formalin. Please use the following procedure when sending a specimen:

Complete a specimen bottle label for each specimen and affix it to the specimen container.

Please use ball-point pens rather than felt-tip markers to fill in labels and request slips, because ink from markers can run and become illegible if any leakage occurs. Special pens containing waterproof ink are available upon request.

Requisition slips are printed on 3-part carbonless paper. Complete one requisition form for each patient (see example) and tear off the back(pink) sheet and retain it for your records. Put the specimen container(s) for each individual patient into a biohazard bag, then fold the request slip and any other paperwork for that patient and put them in the pocket behind the bag.Put all of the individual patient biohazard bags containing the day’s specimens and request slips into a large plastic transport bag (or FedEx large clinical pak bag). Squeeze any extra air out of the plastic bag and seal the top of the bag.

Rabkin Dermatopathology Lab can provide courier service or schedule a FedEx pick-up to transport specimens from your office to our lab. Please call our lab at (412) 786-3054 or (412) 968-9266 to set-up courier or FedEx services.

When using FedEx, we order and supply you with personalized, pre-paid mailing labels (attached to the FedEx boxes), which FedEx refers to as "Billable Stamps".Your office will not be billed for the shipping using our FedEx Billable Stamps (labels) as Rabkin Lab will be billed for all shipping expenses. Tear off the left hand side of the Billable Stamp Label prior to giving the package to the driver as your receipt. Please call or fax a completed Supply Request Form (“Supplies” tab on our website) to our lab when you need additional supplies.

Put the FedEx large clinical pak into the preaddressed FedEx mailing box and seal the box. We attach a preprinted shipping label (called a “billable stamp”) to the FedEx boxes we send you. Please call our lab as soon as possible at (412) 786-3054 or (412) 968-9266 to schedule a Fed-Ex pick-up.

Patient reports can be mailed or faxed to your office or through Electronic Medical Records interface (EMR) based on your practice, and duplicate slides can be sent on all cases if requested.