Anna Loveless

No, so I developed a validation protocol of my own.

Is anyone using an electronic document managemeng system? If so, I have some questions.

Our focus was patient safety and quality of care. The old adage "an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure" more than pays off with automation, especially when it is interfaced to directly enter the results and interpretation. There is no human intervention and chance for human error. An example to drive the point home - a gal is pregnant. On her initial type & screen, her Rh is negative. However, because data entry is manual, it is entered as Rh positive. She never gets RhIG. It is not discovered until a subsequent pregnancy when she presents as Rh negative with an anti-D. Did you know that she has 21 years from the date of the error to sue the facility, and each subsequent child she gives birth to has up to 21 years after birth to sue the facility. Now, what jury won't side with the poor gal? Her ability to produce a healthy fetus has been drastically, permanently and irrivocably (spelling?) impacted, all at no fault of her own. And, all because of one simple human data entry that wasn't caught. The automation more than paid for itself. And, that's not even a transfusion event. What about data entry errors that result in incorrect transfusions? Not a pretty picture. Good Luck!

I am trying to put together some training for nursing staff regarding clotted RBC and plasma units - what they look like, how to differentiate clots from cold agglutinates, etc. Does anyone have something already developed that you would be willing to share, or pictures of clotted units that you would be willing to share? Thanks for any help you can offer. Anna Loveless

We have an Echo, interfaced to Horizon Blood Bank (SafeTrace Tx), through the DI.

I am preparing to validate our Echo interface and am wondering if anyone has a written validation protocol I could borrow. If you are willing to share, please let me know. And, Thanks!!!