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I think you should invite members of that committee to remove a bag from its cube, try to label it sufficiently (substance, lot #, expiration, etc.), attach that label in such a way that it will stay attached when the bag 'collapses' as it's emptied, hoist the bag up to the level of a cell washer without the aid of the box (especially this part), and suggest ways to keep the collapsed bag at an angle that will ensure all the contents are used. I'm willing to bet they'll come around.

We had an over zealous infection control team (made up of 100% nurses) come to our lab last year making the same demand. We told them, in essence, we will not comply because the risk of injury from handling those containers were greater than the risk they were trying to alleviate. Furthermore, the risk of accidently confusing saline with formalin, whose containers look exactly alike, was to high when removing from the cardboard containers. In addition to that, we told them the man hours required to keep up with that would require additional FTE's, which would not be approved. They conceded and we continued on, business as usual. TJC does not really inspect labs that are CAP, AABB, or CLIA certified. Those organizations understand the logistics of the cubes and do not have a problem with it. Most infection control officers are nurses and think from the nursing perspective only.

I'm going to be blunt. This is ridiculous!! You have the potential of causing far more problems by removing the cubes from their protective container.

Interesting discussion. Yes, cardboard can carry dirt and/or insects, but to imply that the presence of such on supplies like saline cubes creates a risk to patients and staff is an extreme stretch. We don't live in a vacuum and most of us spend time outdoors with the dirt and bugs every day (potentially bringing them inside with us). A wipe with a damp paper towel should be sufficient to clean an obviously soiled outer container. If you talk to the manufacturer of the saline, I'm sure they would argue that the outer box is not merely a convenient shipping container, but also an integral part of the product itself, designed to support the flexible primary container and get the best performance from the product. After all, they've designed in a nice little tear-out section that creates a perfect hole for the spigot/tap.

Request new safety committee to audit the trail the saline boxes take from the manufacturer to the blood bank to ascertain where this "dirt" is coming from. Or to put it another way show the manufacturer for this product is required to maintain a level of cleanliness to prevent roaches etc., the couriers the same. As mentioned above this is ridiculous

My guess is the reason your process is "a little over the top" is because, like us, we were cited for non-compliance with COM.30450 New Reagent Lot and Shipment Confirmation of Acceptability - Nonwaived Tests Phase II New reagent lots and shipments are checked against previous reagent lots or with suitable reference material before or concurrently with being placed in service CAP checklist item. According to this checklist you must do one of the following: Examples of suitable reference materials for qualitative tests include: Positive and negative patient specimens tested on a previous lot; Previously tested proficiency testing materials; External QC materials tested on the previous lot (eg, antigen testing kit controls, immunohematology antisera and reagent red cells) Control strains of organisms or previously identified organisms for microbiology reagents used to detect or evaluate cultured microorganisms; If none of the above options is available, control material provided by the assay manufacturer with the new test kit. For our regular antisera (anti-A, B, D), reagent red cells (A1 cells, B cells), we can prove that the new lot is tested using pos/neg controls used on previous lot in accordance with the first option. This is easily verifiable on both the analyzers and our manual recording of daily reagent rack QC. For Fetal Screen kits, we started testing the new lot against the controls from the old lot upon receipt of the new kit. This is in accordance with the first option, or using a previously tested specimen in accordance with the 2nd option. This is documented on a manual log. It seems to me that, primarily, the fetal screen test kit is where inspectors have caught us on this checklist item. Hope this helps

Visual inspection, review package insert for changes, log-in and QC when opened

I QC reagents before I put them into use; usually not upon receipt.