Cliff

I recently merged many partially empty sections into fewer sections. This site gets a lot of traffic and having too many sections can make it a little daunting for new people. I am completely in the camp of no question being too dumb. As I've matured I've learned I am not nearly as smart as I thought I was and ask more than my fair share of "dumb" questions.

As a few people have said in support of writing the volume on the unit, they are right. It doesn't take much time to write the volume and record it in the computer. Multiply that by more than 30,000 red cells transfused a year and it adds up quickly. I don't see the value in doing it. I can see the cost.

It sounds like some of your policies are simply "we've always done it this way" issues. There isn't an easy way to determine how much blood is in the bag. It started as 450ml or 500ml of whole blood (unless it was apheresis red cells) +/- 10%. Then as you know it's spun done and most of the plasma is removed and an preservative is added. All of these steps, along with the donors hematocrit make for a wildly varied red cell product volume. That said, the human body doesn't react to red cells as it would a different medication. A unit is a unit and the recipient should receive an approximate increase in hematocrit regardless of the variable size product. There isn't a direct correlation between the increase in hematocrit and the mls of red cells received that all recipients will exhibit. If you are a small facility the physicians may be used to and want to continue to receive this information. It's up to your medical director to convince them it's archaic and of little value. It is a waste of your resources which translates into money. As for sounding dumb, I firmly believe the only dumb thing to do is remain silent and not ask questions. The people on this site are an amazing wealth of information. I'm almost afraid to post now.

I really like the idea. I see three hurdles though. Programming: This would take a fair amount of custom programming. I would want it to integrate into the site so I could use the same credentials for the users. I don't want them to have to log into two different systems. I would also need an administrative end where I could create sections and assign users and a content experts section where they could create the material for the end user. This would cost a fair amount of money. Accreditation: I looked into PACE accreditation. This is definitely pretty easy to do, but again, it would cost a modest amount of money, annually. Content: We would need content experts, and I agree we have many on this site, that would be willing to donate their time to create the modules.Again, a wonderful idea. It would take a good amount of time, and a fair amount of money to create. I am very open to hearing suggestions on raising the money. I would want the system to be free for the end users.