Donor Services and Donor Recruitment

Dear all, Is it mandatory that a physician make the clinical examination for determining eligibility of a donor? Some centres recommend that it can be done by a Blood bank technologist or by a RN. Who is really responsible for this? FDA mentions that a physician or a staff trained by him provided the physician is in the premises when examination is done. If the staff trained is doing it the center should have the SOP for donor examination approved by the FDA authority. Where in the AABB standards is this referred to? what is the AABB recommendation for the same thanks

We have two ways of testing bacterial contamination of platelets : the Bactalert and other is Verax PGD test. We use them both in conjunction. I would like to know what is the best procedure and ideal process flow of this. Can some one please share their policy for the same.

Dear all, Is it mandatory that a physician make the clinical examination for determining eligibility of a donor? Some centres recommend that it can be done by a Blood bank technologist or by a RN. Who is really responsible for this? Where in the AABB standards is this referred to? thanks

During my visit to one blood bank, I found out that they routinely fumigate the blood bank premises excluding the component storage area every 15 days and swabs are taken from instruments including donor couches and if culture is positive the process of cleaning and fumigation is repeated. please comment on this.

Reference: 21 CFR 606.40© Provide adequate, clean, and convenient handwashing facilities for personnel, and adequate, clean, and convenient toilet facilities for donors and personnel... For toilet facilities we try to ensure there is one close by for staff and donors to use. What are you doing about “handwashing facilities”? We were looking at wipes safe for skin, but does this meet the intent of the CFR?

We are struggling with finding an effective way to keep our apheresis donors warm enough to minimize the vasoconstriction and draw pressure alerts. We've tried the chemical hand-warmers you can purchase but they don't seem to be very effective. I received a suggestion to use a heating pad which I think might be the ticket...but, as we are a hospital blood center, we are encouraged to use 3-prong (grounded) electrical plugs. Most heating pads I see have only the two prong plug. Does anyone have a vendor suggestion ... and/or any other suggestion for keeping our donors warm? Thanks! P.S. .... It's no wonder we have difficulty it was well below zero F today....

For those of you collecting PAS platelets, how often are you collecting concurrent plasma? We are looking at getting the Trimas but currently use Amicus. On Terumo's website, it says: Plasma replaced by PAS can be collected as an additional plasma product for transfusion, while still classifying the donors for plateletpheresis for deferral purposesWhen we started collecting PAS platelets, Fenwal had no recommendation on what to collect. But we are revisiting this issue and I would like to see what others are doing. Thanks!!

What are the regulations about sample size pool for NAT testing? Does FDA, AABB or any other agency have a regulation about what how many samples can be pooled for NAT testing or is NAT testing to be performed on single donor samples. I tried searching in the threads but found no such info. Thanks for your inputs.

We have recently had an "effeciency expert" inhouse to try to determine ways in which we can cut costs. One of the recommendations was to decrease the use of CMV negative products since in their opinion leukoreduction by filtration filters CMV essentially making the unit CMV negative. My question is is this a true statement, and what justification can be found to agree with or disagree with this? Also, how many of you all out in BB land agree with this and do you use CMV seronegative products or rely on the filtration to "clean" the units?:confused:

A person with the history of convulsions, on therapy with carbamzepine, is eligible for donation ? I think I have read it somewhere that, they are eligible for donation, as long as they are free of convulsions for the preceding / past one year ! I would like to have the inputs from the senior members please ! From the time I started my career, i was under the impression that, even a needle ***** can elicit another episode of seizures, in patient withe the history of convulsions... Any inputs on the matter would be appreciated....

If the phlebotomist is unsuccessful during the first attempt for a volunteer blood donation, does your facility have a policy to allow a second attemp? If so, how is this handled? (Do you require a different phlebotomist for the second attempt? Do you move the DIN number stickers to a second collection bag or do you record that DIN as an unsucceessful draw/discard with no product collected and use a new DIN for the the second bag?)

Hi all: How do you determine what is a mild reaction? Moderate? Severe? I am looking to update some SOP's for our donor program and would like to see what everyone else is doing. Also, If anyone has a good form for documenting reactions that they would like to share.......... Thanks

Since there is now a licensed confirmatory test for T. Cruzi, will there be a mechanism by which to reenter a donor who was repeat reactive for the screening test? I do not see any update since the 2009 FDA Guidance, which states that a repeat reactive must be indefinitely deferred.

Hello to everyone, this is my first time to post. I am the platelet recruiter where I work and finding it very difficult to come up with fresh new ideas to get donors in here..I need your help.

The latest cdc map/guidelines indicate there is a small risk in Quintano Roo. Cancun and Cozumel are located there. There is no stipulation in the latest guideline regarding urban vs. rural travel. Previously there was a stipulation about small foci near the guatemala and belize borders. Does anyone have a guideline they would be willing to share regarding Quintana Roo? Thank you

Hi anyone, Recently we got a donor who is positive for CRP. My question of concern is that can a person donate blood if he or she is positive for CRP. Any help on this would be kindly appreciated. Thanks in advance.

if a donor has a hb of 12.5 but his Hct<38. Do we accept him or not as a donor for regular donation and what about plateletpheresis donation? Is it important to have the Hct above 38?

hey all is there any upper limit of donors weight that is accepted for donation

Does anyone know of any references/papers regarding the consequences of giving a patient (unintentionally of course) DCT +ve blood. There seems to be very little written about it. We do not routinely do a DCT on Donor blood and of course it should get picked up in the crossmatch, but if group specific uncrossmatched blood were given in an emergency its a possibility such blood could be given to a patient. What are the likely consequences?

What are others doing for repeat reactive anti-HCV donors? Are you just telling them their screening test was positive and sending them to their primary care provider for further work-up?

What is the testing methodology used for platelet pH testing? Does anyone use blood-gas analyzers for this test? Thanks Stephanie

When a confirmatory test result for a donor is reported as non-confirming what exaclty does it mean. Thanks.

Does anyone use a molecular method, like the BioArray BeadChip, to phenotype your donor units. If so are you labeling them as antigen negative or using this as a screen only?

Does anyone have an opinion on the idea of using only male plasma as a way to cut down on TRALI cases? A study in the Netherlands found a reduction of 33% with this idea. Supposedly male plasma is less likely to contain antileukocyte antibodies. Thanks, Scott

Hi: What are the best/worst/funniest excuses that people use not to donate blood? I just love when the person with multiple piercings and tattoos tells me they are afraid of needles