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illinoisbloodbanker

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  1. Like
    illinoisbloodbanker reacted to galvania in Valid blood type   
    I would just be a bit suspicious if say there was a + reaction with A1 cells and 4+ with B cells in an apparent group O - or vice versa; or very weak reactions in a young healthy adult.....a bit of common sense required, that's all
  2. Like
    illinoisbloodbanker reacted to Baby Banker in Blood Bank Lead - Any advice, tips, ?   
    Get to know your staff, but remember that you are not there to be their buddy.
  3. Like
    illinoisbloodbanker reacted to Cliff in Blood Bank Lead - Any advice, tips, ?   
    Maintaining enough staff.  Too many people use a large facility as a stepping stone to another job for more money.
    Having Senior Management understand the difference between a Blood Bank and Clinical Lab - we're not the same.
    Maintaining inventory.  There is always a shortage of something.
    Competency Assessment - huge pet peeve of mine.  You go to a talk by _____________ and hear them pontificate on how we all make competency assessment so hard on ourselves.  Then say something silly like, all you need to do is watch them do a _______ proficiency testing sample, they will be processing regular samples at the same time.  They'll do equipment maintenance, QC, and result entry.  See, it wasn't that hard...  Drives me nuts.  In reality that never happens, we have 40 other staff we need competency for and obviously we can't share the PT sample.  And then the Joint Commission wants competency every 365 days +/- 30 days.  For a lab our size, it takes a tremendous amount of time.  Sorry, this really does drive me nuts with the inspectors.
  4. Like
    illinoisbloodbanker got a reaction from Malcolm Needs in BloodBankTalk: Allergic Reaction   
    I just answered this question.


    My Score PASS  
  5. Like
    illinoisbloodbanker reacted to Kayla Ace in Anti-Can?   
    I was wondering if anyone had any information regarding an Anti-Can? In Marion E. Reid & Christine Lomas-Francis's "Blood Group Antigens and Antibodies" guide, they reference an 'Anti-Can' which reacts like an Anti-M but mostly with Black donors vs Caucasians. However I am unable to find any more information regarding this antibody. Would greatly appreciate any input or any further reading materials that mention this antibody. Thanks!
  6. Like
    illinoisbloodbanker reacted to Malcolm Needs in Weak D Molecular Testing--Cost and Insurance Reimbursement   
    Prof. Theirry Burnouf, Prof. Axel Seltsam, Sue Johnson and some English guy ay Cressier in 2015.

  7. Like
    illinoisbloodbanker reacted to kate murphy in CAP survey data entry   
    I wish CAP would put all 1 specimen results all together, then move on to the next specimen.  Doing all the ABO, then all the Rh, then ABS... THAT'S what causing all the clerical errors I've seen.  We're supposed to test and report just like a patient spec - and that isn't it!
  8. Like
    illinoisbloodbanker got a reaction from AMcCord in Dropping Blood Bank Bands   
    We have continued to use a unique blood bank banding system and have been on EPIC for several years.  ER had their own EPIC label printer but the lab had to remove it due to the high number of labelling errors. 
  9. Like
    illinoisbloodbanker reacted to Brenda K Hutson in Grifols Erytra   
    So we went LIVE with our Erytra this week.  We had a couple of hardware issues along the way (though nothing major).  One change I made (and this was just a personal decision) to prophylactically prevent 1 type of issue, is that we changed the double-layer racks to single layer (so when we take them out of the box....we have saved empty racks after use so we place the top layer in a 2nd rack).  We do that because in training, they emphasize how you have to make sure the cards are patted down; that a corner doesn't pull back up, like maybe from your glove sticking; that the drawers must be closed very carefully or it could jar the cards.  Well,  you can "teach" your staff all of those things, but you KNOW it is going to happen (some heavy-handed tech. is going to come along and just slam the door shut.....then you are in trouble  ).  So by making single-layer racks, we hope to decrease gripper vs. card issues.  Our workload is not so high that we needed the 2nd layer....even filling the Erytra with single-layer card racks in every space, is more than we would use in 24 hours. One thing to be careful with if you do that though is that when you are handling the cards, do it gently so as not to cause splashing within the wells; otherwise, you create another problem.  Another change we made is that it was initially connected to a drain.  After training (and learning to do decontamination), we decided to have it switched to reagent waste bottles.  Again, our workload is such that we would not even fill 1 of those bottles in 24 hours much less 2; so we cut down on the tedious decontamination process.
    You also learn some things the hard way.....like if you remove a solution bottle to add more solution, don't close the drawer!  If you do and the analyzer is priming (or wants it for something else), it will disable the probes.  So leave the drawer open during the process.  There were several things like that we learned by making the mistake.  The more we use it, the more we learn (there is a lot to learn with the touchscreen).
    But we still really like it.  There are some software changes we would like so they are adding them to a new version coming out next year.  Also, they definitely need to "beef up" their panels (and they know that).
    All in all.....a good purchase.  My only outstanding concern is some missed weak antibodies (which we will continue to watch for.....for now, every questionable antibody screen will be repeated by Tube PeG).
    Brenda Hutson, MT(ASCP)SBB
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