CCard

Who manufactures Plasmalyte? Is there a distributor I could call if I wanted the product in the Boston area?

Dawn, Check with Paul Barros, sales rep in this area for BD. He says they are able to provide documentation of FDA approval, which the AABB will surely go along with. Unfortunately I don't have his phone# handy--I send it along if I find it!

I would like to hear from the blood banking community regarding Anti-A1 when detected and what transfusion practices are observed; my personal experience is while it is present, transfuse with group O (or A2) red cells, and resume the use of group A when the antibody is no longer detectable.

It depends on your computer system, and the billing interface. Some systems will allow a second identical ABO/Rh test to be performed on the same accession # but will not bill the second test. Others do not and a second accession # must be created for the same sample, and either permit the billing or not. When considering a future BBIS, one should take this into consideration.

I could probably write a book on this subject, and perhaps some day I will. Over the course of my career I have become familiar with four different blood bank information systems, some to my great regret. One of the big problems with choosing and installing a blood bank IS is knowing to ask the right questions. Unfortunately, the representatives of many vendors who demo their company's software don't often know the answers, and considerable research is required to ferret out the responses. For example, a common mistake is to concentrate on the ease of use from the bench standpoint, certainly an iimportant consideration. But an equally important consideration is just how well these systems talk to the existing HIS, that is, how well do they communicate critical information. I think it essential to communicate the current status of a unit across the LIS-HIS interface, so that physicians can see that units are crossmatched, or issued, or transfused. Some systems can do this, others cannot--even much touted recently revamped systems. I would be happy to discuss the topic further--I would like to create a checklist for "Choosing the right BBIS".--CC