Kris L.

NOBODY has EVER performed either an Indirect Coombs Test (ICT) (or, still worse, an Indirect Coombes Test), or a Direct Coombs Test (DCT) (or, still worse, a Direct Coombes Test).  There is most certainly NOT either an Indirect or Direct AHG Test.  AHG is a reagent used in both the IAT and the DAT.
The correct terminology for the former test is the Indirect Antiglobulin Test (IAT) and for the latter test is the Direct Antiglobulin Test (DAT).  It is true that Coombs was the primary author on three papers describing the test1-3, but Mourant and Race were his co-authors on these papers, and they are often forgotten.
Indeed, Coombs himself did not like the test being referred to as the Indirect Coombs Test and the Direct Coombs Test4, particularly as the principle of the test had been described in two papers published in the early 1900s,5, 6.
 
1.  Coombs RRA, Mourant AE, Race RR.  Detection of weak and ‘incomplete’ Rh agglutinins: A New Test.  Lancet 1945, 246, 15-16.  DOI: 10.1016/S0140-6736(45)90806-3.
2.  Coombs RRA, Mourant AE, Race RR.  A new test for the detection of weak and “incomplete” Rh agglutinins.  British Journal of Experimental Pathology 1945; 26(4): 255-266.
3.  Coombs RRA, Mourant AE, Race RR.  In vivo isosensitization of red cells in babies with haemolytic disease.  Lancet 1946; 247: 264-266.  DOI: 10.1016/S0140-6736(46)91925-3.
 4.  Coombs RRA.  Historical note: past, present and future of the antiglobulin test.  Vox Sang 1998; 74: 67-73.  DOI: 10.1046/j.1423-0410.1998.7420067.x.
5.  Moreschi C.  Neue tatsachen über die blutkörperchenagglutination.  Zbl Bakt 1908; 46: 49-51.
 6.  Friedemann U.  Weitere untersuchungen über den mechanismus der anaphylaxie.  Z Immunitätsforsch Exp Ther 1 Originale 1909; 2: 591-641 (cited in reference 4).

If you are talking about tube tests, I label  A,B,D,Dct, a,b.  ABSC:  1, 2, 3.  With the pt initials underneath.

Yes.

My personal system was virtually identical to yours except for the the reverse type I used JH-RA and JH-RB.
In the facilities where I was the Transfusion Service or Blood Bank supervisor my tube labeling requirement for the staff was that anyone in the department could set down an take over the testing and know who and what was in each tube.  

I validated anti-C3b,-C3d using buffered gel cards. We use 0.8% patient cells and we make the commercial Complement Check cells 0.8% too. We spin after a 5 minute incubation at room temperature. The check cells are always 3-4+. As for the sensitivity problems being discussed - negative tube vs + gel . . . why are you using gel? Up front we all know it is more sensitive. I don't think you can ignore a + gel result just because you repeat it in tubes and it is negative. My ped docs are enthralled with the increased DAT sensitivity. I have found 3 anti-Jka in gel that were negative with tube/PeG testing. Are they clinically significant? I can't ignore them.