Record keeping is crucial in the IHC laboratory. It ensures compliance with regulatory requirements, and clean and organized record keeping also ensures a well-managed IHC program.
Record keeping is important when:
- Performing antibody dilution panels for stain optimization
- Validating antibodies that were previously optimized
- Documenting lot-to-lot validations of new antibodies and detection kit reagents
- Validating new control blocks/material
- Documenting successful staining runs, as well as troubleshooting steps for those that were not successful
- Keeping track of the procedures performed for use as a reference
If an automated IHC stainer is used, many records can be extracted directly from the unit. However, if the records are related to the procedure(s), it is best practice to have the formal procedure available outside the instrument's database.
