jfboyer

Have any of you been cross-trained in different departments, or are you just forced to do more than one job? Our dialysis crew have trouble keeping nurses because nurses here are spoiled rotten. No one wants to do on-call. So the few dialysis nurses we have are working 60-80 hours a week. A couple of clinics have closed so we are seeing an increase in sickle cell pts and doing more therapeutic aphaeresis's. Being a workaholic I want to see if I can get part of the action. Have any of you had experience with this? Any ruled or regulations in place for having certain certifications or credentials?

Like Terri I took my exam in January and passed. Knowing the test format helps a lot, so you know what to expect and relieve some stress. When you first get in the room, they give you a dry erase board to write on. I wrote down AB comp. frequencies, sensitivity and specificity, relative risk formula, enzyme and DTT treatment, p2 + 2pq + q2 = 1. At the top of the board, I left that area blank so I could write down question numbers that I wanted to review. Plus I utilized the flag feature to review questions. Don't exactly remember how long the test was, but I had about 25 minutes left to review, so take your time. I made note cards of the entire SBB exam reviewer and read over the Gulf Coast last chance. Both are very good sources of information. A few things I vaguely remember. But who knows what will be on your exam. Also the wording of the questions is ridiculous and much more situational questions, like case study or patient scenarios. What is the effect on pH for a left shift? What cell type is CD19 located on? Of the scenarios below, (HTLV, HIV, HEP, etc.), which donor is eligible for future donations?What is Adenine used for with CPDA and AS-4 during blood storage conditions? How should the blood product be labeled for intraoperative blood salvage? - List 4 different labeling requirements and only one is correct. What is the expiration time for an intraoperative blood salvage procedure? What factors are reduced for thawed plasma? What is HES used for? Two questions about inheritance patterns. What secretor substances would be present in saliva? You are given ABO reactions. I was given a panel that looked like an anti-G. Then given the elution study results which was negative for anti-C but positive for anti-D. So my answer was Anti-G and Anti-D Question about Lewis and H or hh and secretors and Lewis structure. Which glycoprotein is HPA-1a located on? Which disease state lacks FcyRIII? Hope this helps give you an idea as to how in-depth the exam is. Study hard, you will do fine.

I am in the program at Rush right now with Terri, and I love it. It is a very challenging program. There is some homework assignments that are well thought out, quizzes almost weekly, discussion boards almost weekly, and a mid-term exam (5 weeks) and a final at 10 weeks. The cost is very expensive, but I think it is worth it since it doubles up as a masters program.

i understand both sides of what you all are saying. and thanks a lof for all the input. i have thought about putting both temp monitors on a unit at the same time. here are my concerns: i would hate to quarantine a unit of blood because it is 7-9 degrees. that being said, this is why i would agree with using both temp monitors. however the idea for the temp monitor is the ensure that or/er are following procedures and properly handling blood products. (its not like we are asking them to much) we require or/er to have the blood in the cooler 100% of the time. the moment if leaves the frig, we do a couple mins of computer work then place them in the cooler. the only reasons they should leave the cooler is to be checked to ensure its the right blood product for the right patient or to be transfused. so what do you do when a unit come back with the safe-t-vue 6 red and the 10 white? this of course raised concern and the or/er practice with handling blood products, but to me its raises the same concern as if a safe-t-vue 6 turned red. i would still need to investigate, troubleshoot, whatever else, and quarantine the unit. if or/er is setting units out for 30-45 mins and the safe-t-vue 6 is red and the 10 is white, the unit will still need to be quarantined. thats not what we validate. so to me by having both temp monitors on the unit, and one of both turning red you are going to have the same outcome as if having just the safe-t-vue 6 on the unit and it turning red. this is a good debate though and im still a little up on the wall about the issue so keep it coming!

I have been working what feels like around the clock to get a new cooler system established. I have a system that will allow 2-6 units to stay 1-6 degrees C for 8-12 hours depending on how many units are in the cooler, (which they should never be away for that long.) We have always used the safe-t-vue 10's but are switching to the 6's. Does anyone else have any concerns about using the safe-t-vue 6's? We are a level 1 trauma center and have trauma frequently. I am a little concerned that we might have to waste some units because of any defects with the safe-t-vue 6's, which would be expensive. I like the idea of using gel packs at 2-4 degrees C, but has anyone noticed any problems on the OR/ER side of using your cooler systems? Thanks for all the info!

We actually use this system also. i always refer to the expiration as 72 hours but in fact if we recieve a specimen at 00:01 then it would expire in 95 hours and 59 mins. Thanks!

We have a 900 bed hospital with a mass tx procedure. Males get O pos uncrossmatched and females of child bearing age or kids get our O neg uncrossmatched. As far as the sample is concerned; if we currently have a sample we will crossmatch the units when time permits, and once the 72 hour period ends we will re-draw and retest. (example: pt sample expires in 50 more hours. Mass tx called, send units, xmatch units, redraw new sample when the specimen expires. So like 50 hours later a new sample will need to be drawn.) So if you are asking if a new sample needs to be redrawn right after a mass tx, I dont believe so as long as the current specimen is not expired within the 72 hours. As far as Canadia I have a friend that works in a hospital so ill give him a shout and see what he says.

Hi Irshadaad, we currently use a 37 degree C waterbath. We take the units from a -40 degree C freezer, do our computer work with the units, place the units into a plastic bag to protect the ports from any possible contamination of the water (which would be minimal anyways) and place the units at least 3/4 submerged into the bach for around 20 mins. (depending on how large the units is and to make sure they it is completely thawed.) Hope this helps.

Hey everyone thanks for the warm welcome. For all of you STL people I am thinking about going back to school to get a masters in business and also taking the SBB exam. Anyone have any suggestions on a school? I currently live on near the st. charles/st. peters area. Also what are the benifits for taking the SBB?

Hello everyone, how are you all? My name is Trey and I work at St. Johns in St. Louis MO. We are a level 1 trauma center and a collection/processing center. I am new to the field, only working a little over a year in our blood bank. I freaking love it. I really enjoy doing quality systems projects and want to work towards future goals of becoming manager or a QS coordinator. I looking forward to talking to you all and learning what you have aquired through many years of working in this field.