Donor Services and Donor Recruitment

Currently we use the Nageotte Hemacytometer to screen donor units for WBC. I would like to switch over to running the samples on our Sysmex Hematology Analyzer, which is linear to zero in Body Fluid mode. Has anyone done a switch like this that would be willing to share information?

Has anyone been able to implement the required Zika comment on their donor unit labels with the combination of Hematrax and Meditech?

What does your center use to screen research whole blood or apheresis donors? Do you use a specific donor history questionnaire? We have an abbreviated donor history questionnaire with about 12 questions, though I'm not sure they are really relevant questions. Wondering what information is needed or useful for these type of donors. Thanks Stephanie

new user, sorry if this has come up before. Does anyone know if there is an FDA standard for deferring donors on anticoagulants and if so, what the standard is? (I have tried and failed to locate this on the FDA website)

One of our administrators asked us to look into these. Does anyone use them for patients / donors? What do you do for QC? Would you be willing to share your validation plan? Thanks

Anyone else here affected by the blood recall with the defective leukocyte filters ? I think that sums up my week.

Dear Fellow Blood Bankers, I need help. Can any one share their policies and SOP for lookback event thanks

Does anyone have experience with plasma fractionation and discolored plasma (C grade, unacceptable for fractionation)? Plasma Free Hgb testing is negative. Any thoughts would be welcome. What could be the cause if not hemolysis during phlebotomy?

Blood centers are given the option to add "local" questions at the end of the AABB DHQ. What kind of questions, if any, are blood centers adding? We have added six additional questions, but I'm not sure they are relevant and I would love to REMOVE them! Have you ever donated using a different name? Have you ever been deferred or told not to donate? In the past 12 months, have you been under a doctor's care? In the past 72 hours, have you had dental procedure? Are you currently taking any medications? Have you read all the donor information presented and have all your questions been answered? Let me know what you are adding…

In our blood collection facility, we have one common blood pressure cuff for multiple donors. How often do you clean your blood pressure cuffs? Our infectious control specialist is requesting that we clean and disinfect after each use. This seems a little extensive since these are "healthy" volunteer donors and not patients. What is everyone else doing? thanks Stephanie

How are donor adverse events in your facility being reviewed? How is your Medical Director involved? Does the Medical Director review and sign ALL donor adverse events? Does the Medical Director review and sign only selected donor adverse events? Does the Medical Director review and sign the donor adverse events in a summary format... (monthly report) Does the Medical Director just reviews the donor adverse events... no signature required. Trying to figure out the role the Medical Director should play in adverse events. Thanks Stephanie

The latest AABB News is featuring several articles on low iron in blood donors. The only question I have in light of this is: WHERE HAVE THEY BEEN?? By "they", I mean the AABB, CAP, FDA, and every other agency who regulates our lives in blood banking and supposedly has the best interests of the donors in mind when writing said regulations. The one truly incomprehensible statement, by Dr. Steve Kleinman, indicates that we haven't proven that iron deficiency is clinically harmful. By what metric? How many studies need to be done showing definitive clinical harm? Anyone who has been iron deficient can testify to definite clinical effects from low iron--once it is diag…

We are using Sebra 1040 blood mixers in our donor center. The Sebras are all over 10 years old and are no longer supported. I am looking for new mixers. I am interested in what other donor centers are using, if you like them and how often they need to be repaired. We collect about 800 whole blood donors a year.

Does anyone designate storage shelves with laboratory magnets?? For example: Unprocessed, Processed, or Quarantine Looking for a way to label and designate storage shelves with some flexibility. Thanks Stephanie

I posted this question in UK Guidelines forum and Malcolm responded that isn't a requirement in UK. UK donor centers guarantee that what is in the bag matches the label. It is not an FDA requirement for transfusion services to serologically confirm the ABO/Rh type of red cell components using rbcs from a donor tubing segment, it's the CAP, AABB, etc. I'm trying to drum-up interest in the transfusion services community to push their donor centers to implement the same practice in the US that UK donor centers do! Please don't tell me they can't do it! This is 2015, not 1980...

How do you meet Std 5.4.3.1 program to reduce the risk of reactions in young donors? What are other organizations doing to meet the intent of the (relatively) new standard 5.4.3.1, which states "The collection facility shall have a program to reduce the risk of reactions in young donors."

we need to purchase "Videos" of donor interview & phlebotomy for educating our blood bank staff to enhance their competencies, if there any information regarding kindly provide, salman

Hi all, We have a patient that has severe transfusion reactions to CPDA blood. So we have been collecting directed donor blood for him in heparin and washing the whole blood prior to transfusion and documenting the process as a Variance. However, the patient has been requiring more and more frequent transfusions, so it has come time that we write a SOP for the collection of heparin whole blood. Does anyone have a SOP that they are willing to share? or a suggestion of where I might find one? Just something that we could start with and adjust for our specific needs. Thanks for your help!

Does anyone know of a standard or requirement that requires the Medical Director to review donor collections?

How do you feel about a health history/exam being performed by a family member ? Would it compromise whether the donor is truthful? I cannot find a standard for this and I know that many donor centers do employee blood drives - so where do you draw the line? I feel that an employee would know the questions that are asked and would not donate or attempt to donate if he/she knew that there would be a reason for deferral.

We are currently using Pall RCPL collection sets and making acrodose pooled platelets. We are interested in comparing data with other blood centers using this same process. If anyone is using this and would be willing to share data such as filter failure rate, wbc counts on pools and methodology used for testing, we would be interested.

We have seen a great increase in the number of donors taking testosterone. We have been deferring anyone who says their provider suggested they donate to lower their HCT while on testosterone as we feel these donors should be therapeutic donors. How are other centers handling these donors?

Does anyone have a reference on what vitals are required for theraputic phlebotomies?

What is everyone using for the formula for converting grams to milliliters. For whole blood, we use 1mL = 1.053 gms For red cells, we use 1mL = 1.06 For platelets we use 1mL = 1.03 Is this correct?? Thanks Stephanie

Currently, I am working with Igloo chest style cooler from ISC(Vendor not carrying this item). This cooler can carry 16 whole bloods. My aim is to have these coolers drop the temperature to 1-10C within 6-8 hours. Has anyone encountered problems with these Igloo chest style coolers? Are there any replacements for the Igloo chest style coolers that are not fabric based?