kollech@cbccts

We use a combination of RNs, LPNs, and donor room technicians (DRTs)to collect apheresis platelets. We have been crosstraining the whole blood staff, since we've combined the apheresis and whole blood donor rooms, and as we've expanded collections to our branches and mobiles. The DRTs do a great job.

We implemented in July, and the lack of medications is definitely a culture change. We did add several medications to the deferral list (anticoagulants, certain antiarrhythmics that are used for life-threatening conditions), but even now, staff get a little nervousr about missing meds. And we did not use the flow charts for training. We developed our own training materials. Since eligibility criteria were basically the same, we focused on what was different (fewer meds, different questions), what was important (donors had to read the pre-donation information, med deferral list, changes in questions, use of the capture questions). We also added 2 additional health history questions (any medications in the past 30 days, doctor's care in last 12 months) to capture info about medical conditions that are still cause for deferral, that we wouldn't get from the other 48 questions. We've been using the form since 7/6/05; we've had our issues, but the donors really like it. K.

We record the lot # of our prep set and sterile 2 X 2s on the donor health history record. They are entered into the computer, allowing us to search on those fields in the event of any recall.