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I think this would be ideal, Scott. I wish we had that kind of flexibility at our institution. Donna

Yes, I included the supervisory FTE as one of our day shift FTE's. (ie: One Suprv + one and a half techs = total of 2 and a half FTE's on day shift.)

We are a 300 bed hospital and our staffing in almost identical to Scott's. However, all of our techs on 2nd and 3rd shift (and almost all of our techs on day shift) are generalists, so we have a lot of flexibility during vacations and very busy times. Donna

I'm sorry to hear this. My condolences to his family and friends. Donna

Very good points, John. It is not uncommon to get crossmatches on "irradiated-warranted" patients with ER or admitting diagnoses such as "weakness" or "anemia" or "bleeding." I'm all for calling the doc if something raises your suspicion, but I don't think it is appropriate to make it the laboratorian's responsibility to check diagnoses. Donna

Good luck with your AABB assessment! Donna

Malcolm, it would be greatly appreciated if you keep all those antibody patients on "your side of the pond!" Donna

Ditto again.

Nice to see the surge of new members. Welcome everyone! I think this is a great site to share info and learn from each other. Our topics run the full spectrum....from new techs, to new supervisors, to some of the best blood banking/ immunohematology gurus.

Good to have you join us, Xia. Looking forward to you joining in some of our "discussions." Donna

Merry Christmas! Donna

Thanks for the snow, Cliff! Merry Christmas to everyone! Donna

To DOGLOVER: Best wishes for your retirement!! I bet the per diem work will be very enjoyable when you know that you don't "have to" be there. To Dr. Pepper: Loved your list. 7 out of the 10 items on your list are also members of my "Top Ten" list of pet peeves. Donna

Congratulations on your success!! Donna

I am not aware of any such regulation here is the USA. Donna

Quite frequently, a cold autoantibody may not react on immediate spin (or demonstrate a positive reaction in the auto control), until the testing is dropped to a colder temperature. We often observe a "panagglutinin" (or often, reactions with some panel cells but not all panel cells, giving us a pattern that cannot be identified.) When we test the patient's plasma with screening cells and an auto control and incubate the tubes in the refrigerator for 15-30 minutes, then we see all the cells and auto giving 3+ or 4+ reactions (indicating the presence of a cold autoantibody.) Donna

According to Peter Issitt's book Applied Blood Group Serology (paraphased): Between 1 and 8% of A2 individuals produce Anti-A1, and approximately 22 and 35% of A2B individuals produce Anti-A1. So, it is very typical to not find Anti-A1 in the plasma of A2B patients. Donna

Oh, great.......Another site to get addicted to.....!! Donna

Done.

#2

We have quite a few per diems. Our full-time and part-time employees have set schedules, then we ask the per diem techs to fill-in the holes and help cover absences due to vacations, etc. Our hospital policy states that a per diem employee must work at least one of the legal holidays per year, and it states that the individual will be automatically terminated if they do not work at least one shift in 6 months. Regarding the per diem individuals who frequently refuse to work: Different supervisors and managers handle this in different ways. Some are very tolerant and are willing to settle for whatever the per diem individual is willing to do, and some of us have a philosophy more along the lines "If they are frequently unwilling to work when we need them, then we don't need them." Donna

If you have testing instruments and/or computer equipment that specify in their manufacturer's directions that they are operatable within certain temperature and/or humidity levels, you must document that your environment is within those acceptable ranges. I think we were cited for that a few years ago during a CAP inspection. So we purchased little gizmos that sit near our testing instrument and display the temperaature and humidity, and we record those readings once a day on a QC log. Donna

Similarly to marvy1, we do not do reflex testing on the Echo and we do not run neonate samples on the Echo, so we do not routinely do Weak D testing on the Echo. Unfortunately, our Echo is not interfaced with our LIS. Donna

I have two suggestions: 1. For saline-active antibodies: Find a patient whose plasma gives a 1+ reaction with the B Reverse Cells (so you won't have to dilute the patient's plasma with anything.) For high-protien antibodies: Would it work if you used "Rh Control Reagent" to dilute the Anti-D? 2. Beg or borrow a vial of Albumin from a fellow-hospital or your blood supplier? Donna