Computer Systems / Software / ISBT128

We are getting ready to start using electronic crossmatch with Meditech Magic 5.67. My IT guy gave me an antibody dictionary page and you can select yes or no for significant, indicating that EXM would be appropriate or not. As it stands in the dictionary now, there are more than a few that are listed as insignificant, such as M, N, Lea, Leb, P1, York and antibody of unknown significance/specificity. And to be safe, since we don't antigen type for Lea, Leb, M or N, or identify an antibody which might be an HLA, we perform a gel XM. Which antibodies do you routinely call insignificant that would be eligible for an electronic XM? Also, does anyone have a proced…

Looking for other Epic and SCC/SoftLab/SoftBank users to share fixes, concerns, and conundrums with!

Hello, Does anyone know if EPIC has a transfusion administration/positive patient ID system? Something used at the bedside to confirm that a unit of blood and a patient match up? Thanks!

We went live with electronic crossmatches in Meditech 5.66 a few months ago. These are the default XMs for all our RBC components. There is a problem with the emergency issue routine in that we would like to do a regular serologic crossmatch in those cases as for a variety of reasons those patients usually don't qualify for electronic crossmatches. The trouble is that, even if you replace it with a regular crossmatch in Requisition, the system will tack the unit onto an additional electronic crossmatch (it being the default) as you issue it. Is there an easy way around this without having to reset crossmatches, etc? Thanks - Phil

Hi Everyone, Is there anyone out there that has experience with Meditech's TAR? We are in the process of validating this for our blood bank. If so I would appreciate your help with the following: Do you use an additional form of identification (Typenex bracelet)? If so are you using it for all products? We currently use typenex for packed cells and Rhogam. We don't require it for ffp, pheresis, or cryo. Our LIS tech is telling me it has to be used for all or none in TAR because of the way the parameters have to be answered. If required for all products do you use a different one for each product? What form of identification or requ…

If anyone has interfaced anything with Meditech, can you upload Antigen typing results? It seems that Meditech doesn't allow anything except "T-type" and "B-type" tests to be uploaded. We will be getting our Echo soon,and I hope this is wrong, because I'd love to run antigen typing on units on the analyzer and then send the results across on the interface. (That's being optimistic that we can get anything to cross the interface!) Linda Frederick

Our Red Cross region is just about to go live with ISBT labeling, and I have one last question about it. It's my understanding that ARC will print antigen negative information in the very bottom right-hand quadrant, instead of the tie-tags that we used to get. Except for the fact that it's almost microscopic print, I'm good with this, however, when we irradiate a unit, we print a "product/date and time" label that we place over the bottom half of the label--which will cover up the antigen info on the original. We've talked about using scissors to snip off the blank part of the label that would cover the antigen info, but at this point, I'm not confident that it wouldn'…

When I logged into Blood Bank Talk, the banner displayed "Hello sjlevine it appears that you have not posted on our forums in several weeks, why not take a few moments to ask a question, help provide a solution or just engage in a conversation with another member in any one of our forums?" My response to this is that I would visit and post sooner if I did not have so much work to do, particularly in the area of ISBT 128. I will say that what we have done so far has been a learning experience. We have instruments, such as the Abbott Commander, that will take ISBT 128 numbers, but leave them unprocessed, thus leaving it to us to process them before they go into our Blood B…

Has any one been successful in setting up the bed-side scanning with Meditech? We are currently in the process of setting this up but have encountered several road blocks. Right now, the verifications performed by the nurse prior to transfusion are done manually and documented on a card that becomes part of the patient's medical record. With TAR, the patient's armband would be scanned, then the unit #, product code, and source code. All other transfusion information would be documented in Meditech. I'd like to hear if anyone has encountered any problems and how they worked around them.

I have been given the task of making us ISBT ready. We do not have a technical supervisor not do we have a manager who is strong with Blood Bank knowledge- so I am struggling here! We have conflicting information. We prepare neonatal syringes for all components and perform the normal thawing/pooling plasma, cryo, etc. The way I interpret the AABB regs, for all of those products we must relabel with ISBT labels that are barcode readable. This would include product code, unit number (neonatal syringes), expiration date, and modifying facility ID number. Is this correct? Can anyone tell me about the HemaTrax system? We have looked at purchasing it, but obviously the cost is …

Need your help... We are currently trying to decide between Mysis (lab and Transfusion Services), Soft (lab and Transfusion Services), Cerner (lab and Transfusion Services) and Mediware (Transfusion Services only). Can anyone give me feedback on any of these systems?? Of course I am most interested in the Transfusion Services piece. I will take your feedback to those individuals that are making the decision. Thanks

I asked Cliff to start this sub-thread in the ISBT discussion, hoping that some Meditech users could get their heads together. I am increasingly frustrated with this whole thing. I have compiled a list of the Meditech DTSs that relate to ISBT-128 (these are for Magic, I don't know about Client Server) DTSs: 10697, 10726, 10727, 12619, 13912,13936, 13937. And the Knowledge Base Articles are: 24250 and 24454. Are there other out there? My number one issue right now is: I need to be able to print ISBT labels for pooled products. I want to be able to print only the quadrant with the unit number/facility ID. Meditech is telling me I will not be able to do this with the Di…

What are everyones thoughts about a software company performing validation for the end user of that software? Isn't this considered a conflict of interest? My facilily has just purchased a McKesson product and it appears that the software vendor who manufactures the product also has a validation company and now performs validations. This company is automatically written right into the contract and we were not given the opportunity or the information needed to investigate them. I just came back from the AABB and the FDA frowned upon such a type of validation. Any thoughts?

Does anyone have a transfusion service computer system that they love & would recommend? We're especially interested in one that has rule based logic, great reports, and can have several different users accessing an emergency patient's application when needed. Thanks!!!

Within the next year our physicians will be entering their own orders into the computer system. Currently only the ED is doing it and they tend to order transfusions. We'll do a type and screen and the ED will call 1 hour later to ask if the blood is ready. Sorry, no order. I am interested in hearing from others that work at facilities where physicians put the orders in on in-patients. Are the correct? Do they get ordered too early if the patient is for surgery? What kind of queries must be answered?

Hi all, I know this may sound unreal or even funny to someone, but it is not. I am s software developer who has a lot of experience in development of blood banking information systems. I am willing to participate and assist in the development of it. If anyone is interested in such things, I'm here. I would be happy, if nothing else, then talk about this subject. Thanks in advance Sanel Deljkic

Cerner classic users, How are you dealing with ISBT implementation planning? Can we exchange information here...

Hello, at our facility, we send any positive DAT(we use polyspecific) on cord blood to reference lab for work up/elution for HDN. my question is, what should be done with mother/ should a new type and screen be performed soon after cord blood collected? our procedure says if moms antibody screen is positive, start HDN workup. so should it be a recent antibody screen? or prev prenatal antibody screen result? confusion regarding mother, if antibody screen negative don't send? could an antibody eluted off be missed if moms antibody screen was negative? I am not original author of procedure, originally placed into service in 2006, biannually reviewed. and I am a recent h…

I'm interested in finding out how other users are handling a product code change in Meditech when you divide products from a closed system to an open system which now requires a product code change. Any input would be appreciated.

We are in the process of developing our ISBT build for Cerner Millennium 2007.18. Our LIS person is curious if a one to one relationship for product build is the most appropriate way to go. If there are any Millennium users who have completed a successful ISBT build that would like to share information with us, please let me know. Thanks Chris

Wondering what systems are used in the Blood Bank, Lab, and Hospital.

Link - http://www.fda.gov/cber/faq/barcodefaq.htm Frequently Asked Questions Bar Code Label Requirements for Blood and Blood Components Is it true that we must label blood and blood components with specific machine-readable bar code information by April 26th, 2006? Yes, under the bar code label requirements final rule of Feb 26, 2004, products subject to the rule, including blood and blood components intended for transfusion, must be in compliance by April 26, 2006. The regulation for blood and blood components is located at 21 CFR 606.121©(13). The final rule is entitled: Bar Code Label Requirement for Human Drug Products and Biological Products (69 Federal Regis…

We went live with electronic crossmatch when we did our Meditech 5.66 version upgrade. This have proved to be very popular and beneficial, with one exception. Patients with blood types from our history conversion that haven't had an actual Meditech specimen are not qualifying. The documentation states "Two Blood Type tests on different patient specimens OR on ONE patient specimen and on history match (emphasis mine) are required to be eligible. Meditech is now saying this is working correctly since there aren't two specimens with testing resulted. The biggest problem is that the historical conversion blood type is not identified differently from a previously resulted…

One thing a surgeon will tell you is that the hallmark of a procedure which is not really ready for 'prime time' is the sheer number of ways to do the procedure. IOW, if there are 10 ways to do heart surgery, it means that some of them are still searching for the right method and once the procedures mature, there are only one or two methods which are 'right'. If you extend this analogy to BB Computer systems, it appears as though there are -too many- and that no one has 'hit' upon the right method or type. The problem with 'Windows' based system is the way they do their menus. If you want to make a choice or two and each time you have to re-navigate the menu each time, yo…

Does anyone know of a ISBT code specific for syringes. We aliquot RBC and FFP into syringes for pediatric transfusion and are searching for the specific ISBT code. Any help appreciated.