Tony R

Can any one tell me if the phelobotimist signature is required for a Rh Immune globulin specimen? We currently require the signature of the phelobotimist and would like to discontinue that requirement since it causes us to have to redraw specimens drawn in the ED for a Type and Rh if the patient is Rh negative and the doctor wants a Rh Immuneglobulin injection. Thanks Tony

We have been using the Echo for 4 years with Peg as our backup as well. The techs have no complaints. New employees we have hired who used the Gel/Provue tell me that they would rather use the Echo then the provue since it is faster and is can be used for stats. I have also seen that Johnson & Johnson is considering selling or spinning off ortho diagnostics, if that makes any difference to you. Good luck I'm sure that which ever way you decide to go you will be happy with your choice. Later

free validation kit may be a misnomer. As of now all we have received are instructions on how to make master cell suspensions. Kit implies more than instructions. Later Tony

Thanks I'll check it out. I find it odd that when I e-mailed our sales Rep the only answer I got was that it was forwarded to our SBB specialist who never got back to me. Later Tony

As already mentioned Immucor has discontinued it's Human Anti-D and it's Rh control. We use a 1:200 dilution of Immucor Human Anti-D for our daily QC of our Screening cells for reactivity. Can anyone tell me how you currently do your QC for your screening cells. (tube testing our instrument does it's own QC) I know in the past, we used to use a dilution of Anti-Fya for this but I can not remember the dilution that we used. Any help would be appreciated. Thanks Tony

Thanks Malcolm, we used to do a DAT on everyone we did a screen on and we ended up doing a lot of elutions, which are time consuming and an additional charge to the patient. Tony

Is an autocontrol or a DAT required when doing antibody identification? We do run an auto with each liquid panel but we also use the ECHO for antibody ID as well, the instrument doesn't do an auto. I realize that running the auto and a DAT can provide valuable information, however, if the id is staight forward is it realy necessary. Thanks Tony

We have been using the Echo for two years and recently we have noticed that we are encountering a lot of equivocal reactions. This past week-end we ran ten consecutive T&S and we got 4 of them come out as "NO INT" and one false positive reaction. (negative panel and negative with tube testing Peg & Lis). Obviously this is not acceptable. My question is, "Is this unique to our instrument or are others experiencing the same problems. Thanks for your input. Tony

We do basically what most people do we just repeat the screen with the tube technique using Peg and Lis to AHG, if they are both negative we report it out as negative. If either is positive we do a panel using which ever enhancement media gave the (+) reaction. Just an FYI I did some limited studies on patients who tested 4+ everywhere on the echo. I did a Direct coombs and if that was negative I would take an auto control and two screening cells to 4 C for approximately 30 min. and almost always I found a cold auto antibody. I realize that if you took most specimens to 4C you would run the risk of finding a cold but like the rest of you blood bankers tend to want a reason. later Tony

How often does the AABB and or the CAP require we retype patients receiving platelets? Our current policy (inpatients only) states that as long as we have a ABO & RH on the current billing number that we do not have to repeat the testing when providing platelets. When dealing with outpatients our policy is that they be redrawn for an ABO & RH on each admission requiring a platelet transfusion. A problem recently came up because our Cancer Treatment center gives outpatients a series billing number that is good for a week. Recently a patient came in early one week and returned that Friday. Since this is technically an out patient we requested a redraw as per our policy. This caused some disagreement between that blood bank and the Nursing staff, they insisted that the billing number was the same and didn't want to redraw the patient. So now we are reviewing ourpolicy. Any input would greatly be appreciated. Thanks

My boss wants us to monitor type and screen orders to see if and how many are ordered for not obvious reason. Is there anyone who monitors this? And if so how. Thanks to all for your time and help.

After the way Ortho handled the recall on their last FS Kit they would have to give it to me before I would consider using it.

We used to use Ortho, as a matter of fact, we were using them at the time of the recall. I wasn't impressed with the way ortho handled the recall. I had called tech support and told them we were having problems with their test kit. When I told them the lot # I was told they were aware of the problem. It must have been almost a month before we were notified of the recall. That is a long time when you consider we had to call every Dr. who's patient had a Fetal screen done using that lot #. Offer to do repeat testing if it was soon enough and if not do free antibody screenings. This didn't make the blood bank look good. One Dr. blamed us for the recall. It was just ugly. During this entire time I never saw an Ortho rep. not even an e-mail. So unless Ortho gives us their kits I can't see us using them. Sorry for venting

We also are having a problem with the paint chipping off of the inside of the lid. We do not bleach the washer at regular intervals so I would doubt that the bleach is the problem. We haven't noticed any problems caused by the paint. I just keep an eye on it and if I get any complaints I will contact maintenance and see if they can repair it. Later Tony

Does anyone know if the AABB or CAP allow blood banks to use plastic clot tubes to draw blood bank specimens. Our lab would like to do away with glass tubes as a safety issue. Thanks Tony