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clmergen

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Everything posted by clmergen

  1. clmergen
    When I was entering the Air Force, they asked me what blood type I was. I am not sure if they ever actually typed my blood or just used my answer for my ID card and dog tags. Of course, I had typed my own blood in med tech school so I was confident of my type.
  2. clmergen
    I bought most of my books either from AABB or Amazon. My main 2 texts were Harmening and the TEchnical manual with the AG facts book as another resource. I used other texts available at work or from my medical director for topics not well covered in those books. I did go through FBS so having their objectives and lectures were very helpful. I needed the motivation of those tests every 3 weeks to ensure that I stayed on top of my studying.
  3. clmergen
    As for "how to do a research project", I google it. I did do small research projects in high school and college but that was so long ago. I found some good information on how to write them, etc. You could probably find an book on the process also. And I was with the Florida Blood Services SBB program. They gave a lot of good advice on the project and how to improve it as I turned in sections at a time. The programs are so good that you will do well on the exam. Know the objectives that they give you, study well, and review the "remembered questions' if you get a copy of them. You will do well as they programs are very good.
  4. clmergen
    We didn't have any problem with our bio med guys, they just electrical tested it and placed it into service. Why would it need to be double insulated or grounded? Its just a light box? These light boxes have been around for 10 years and no inspector has ever written one up that I know of. I think they are overthinking it.
  5. clmergen
    It was in the chemical hygiene plan of the last 2 places that I worked. Had nothing to do with biologics. Unfortunately I don't have a source.
  6. clmergen
    There are consignment programs out there the pharmacy could look into. The stock could be on hand but no charges incurred unless used. My last place of work, the transfusion service handled the derivitives but we had a medical director that calculated doses in his head and made sure they were used appropriately. It worked well all around.
  7. clmergen
    I would think it is part of your contract with your blood supplier.
  8. clmergen
    It depends on your manufacturer. Immucor makes a D control for use with it's monoclonal Anti-D reagents. Ortho package inserts says that a D control is not necessary but if the customer requires the use of one, then the use of 6-8% albumin is acceptable.
  9. clmergen
    What do you do with the trauma patient with an unknown blood type? In order to be able to issue AB plasma units you have to allow the issuing of AB red cells. Compatibilities should be based on blood type and individual product types. Meditech is missing a parameter to allow us to issue blood safely all of the time.
  10. clmergen
    We are on 6.0 without the TAR yet. We let our units go to presumed transfused and haven't seen any problems.
  11. clmergen
    Having drawn donors for years in CO at elevation, we would have had problems with an upper limit. In fact, physicians would sometimes recommend donation for those people who may have a high H/H due to the elevation and no other reason. If donors mentioned this to us, we very clearly asked if they were diagnosed with polycythemia or hemochromatosis. If the answer was no, we accepted them for donation. BTW, we had a noncompliant polycythemia patient that would occasionally come in with a hematocrit of 70%.
  12. clmergen
    We sent platelets through the tube system and didn't seem to have any problems.
  13. clmergen
    Well, I view every post but I know nothing about setting centrifuges for platelet yields. As you can see, I have no useful information but I have replied.
  14. clmergen
    We will be barcoding the wristband number into the LIS at prompts. Another way to cut down on human error. If we ever get to a better EMR, hopefully the RNs will have to barcode the wristband number also. I do intend to get some of the handwritten ones to use for our outpatient draws that won't have readily available patient labels. But for my inpatients, I want less writing. I want the nurses to be able to read what is on the patient's wrist and not hav eto "guess" what the name or number might be.
  15. clmergen
    I am hearing complaints right now but I am not sure if everyone has been doing the 45 second spin. We don't have a choice for Immucor as we have a corporate contract with Ortho.
  16. clmergen
    Training and competency assessments are your best bet. Really make sure your phlebotomists know why we are so strict. I am switching to a band that uses the patient label in order to cut down on the handwriting errors and I intend to strongly train in positive patient identification. Other than that, make sure you hire good phlebotomists and fire those that aren't capable of positive patient identification 100% of the time.
  17. clmergen
    The joint commission requires the same thing and they don't cite a reference other than the CLLIA 88 qualifications for a technical supervisor.
  18. clmergen
    Here is a link http://www.fda.gov/combinationproducts/jurisdictionalinformation/ucm121175.htm
  19. clmergen
    From a quick lecture I had in SBB school, donor screening tests are approved by a different process at the FDA than are diagnostic tests. It has to do with sensitivity vs specificity. So if I remember correctly, if a manufacturer submits to both processes and gets approved twice, then yes we could use it. But as SMW stated, it depends on the manufacturer.
  20. clmergen
    Let me know if that falls through. I am in CA although quite a few hours away but I have had my SBB only for 2 years and school is still mostly fresh in my mind.
  21. clmergen
    Article from the 2008 IRL conference hosted by ARC (when they still did those). It has a suggested protocol for ruling out anti-C or anti-E in the presences of anti-D. http://a1881.g.akamai.net/7/1881/26640/v0001/redcross.download.akamai.com/26640/pubs/immuno/24_2_08.pdf
  22. clmergen
    Just don't get surprised if you shoot tips across the bench. I seem to hit the eject button more often than I should on the Ovations pipettes.
  23. clmergen
    I think I need to revalidate mine. I am having the problem with one unit going below 1C. I never thought to try it without the bottom pack. Luckily this is still a work in progress for me. I also couldn't reliably keep it under 6C for an extended period of time with multiple units. The supplied data only "guaranteed" for up to 6 hours so I used that as an end time and it is doing ok.
  24. clmergen
    Kate, I have those for transporting to my off-site for transfusion but wasn't sure how they would work for OR. Do you freeze the ice packs in the plasma freezer? I am having problems keeping the temp >1C with the freezer packs right out of the freezer. I only validated mine for 6 hours and they did well. I just worry about cleaning them in a bloody trauma.
  25. clmergen
    We applied them as we were getting ready for issuing the blood. We went through a lot of indicators but felt it was worth it. In massive transfusion cases, units are typically pulled from a cooler and left on the bed or a counter for an extended period of time. I always expect to see at least on wasted unit from these cases which is why the indicator is so important.
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