ADeCesare

Read your circular of information for your specific antiglobulin reagents. Bio-Rad reagents are very specific. If no agglutination is observed macroscopically, it says, "Negative reactions may be examined with an agglutination viewer, however, microscopic examination is not recommended."

I switched gears, now that I have learned it isn't necessary to relabel components if they are given within 24 hours of thawing. We will just change the expiration date on the unit label, but not the component code.

I'm building codes for COVID-19 plasma, frozen (one code each for Container 1, Container 2, Container 3, and an undivided product) using the component codes provided to me by Red Cross. I plan to assign an attribute to document that the product was convalescent plasma. Then, once it's thawed, the component code will be the same as for other thawed plasma. That way I can use the labels we already use; they can be scanned during blood administration (using Cerner Bridge) and are readily available.

I contacted the company and received written guidelines describing storage limits. It was acceptable.

BYOB, I suggest.

We have found that they are good for about one month after activation. After that, there is a bit of blue showing in the white area, and we discard them then. (We write the activation date on the paper backing, so we know what's going on. This happens even if the stickers haven't been moved for a month, and we know the temp has stayed constant in the fridge.)

We had a LOT of problems with the TempStrip 10 indicators last summer. I personally experienced the monitor changing to the blue color even on an iced unit, within about 10 minutes. I contacted the company, and they explained the process to me...which kind of made sense. Basically the liquid needs to be chilled to keep it from migrating into the white window, as soon as the indicator is activated. We've adjusted the way we activate and store the monitors and haven't had any problems since. I can't really explain why the pre-activation and cold pack storage works better than just sticking them onto a prechilled unit of blood and then putting it directly between ice packs...but it does. Here's part of the summary that I put together, for our staff to use in preparing the indicators: "Although the package states that no conditioning is needed…special handling is required at the time of activation, so that the breach window will not turn blue even when blood units are stored appropriately. BT10 strips contain an encapsulated blue liquid. The indicator is activated by squeezing the bubble to release the blue liquid. The blue liquid changes the yellow activation window to green. The activated BT10 must then be cooled to 6° C or colder, in order to prevent the blue liquid from migrating into the white breach window. Immediately after activating several BT10 stickers, place them in the blood bank refrigerator, on top of a chilled “cold pack.” (Don’t peel the paper backing off until applying it to a unit of blood.)"

Hi, All - I'm Amy DeCesare, and I'm the system Blood Bank Supervisor for Excela Health in western Pennsylvania. I cover 3 hospitals: Excela Westmoreland in Greensburg, Excela Latrobe, and Excela Frick in Mt. Pleasant. I look forward to learning more about what other hospitals are doing, and how we are all meeting the challenges of healthcare.