DOGLOVER

Hi, I haven't been on this forum since I retired about 10 years ago.My 40+ years took me from bench tech in hematology and Blood Bank to supervisory positions in both to just Blood Bank. The last13 years were in Florida, retired and came back up north to Maine. Got my EMR license and work with our small volunteer fire dept. The lab background was extremely helpful in the EMR classes. Also helpful because I know how to write policies and QA isn't a foreign language to me.

We do the same as Donna, because we do give type compatible to kids under 12. A lot of our platelet users are heme-onc kids so we may not be able to provide adults with their own type. The only hemolytic reaction I have seen to plts was in another time and place and it was a 5 year old.

You are fortunate in that you can use a department based review. We use the high/med/low (first time 2013) but had to use one made for all clinical areas. That of course leaned heavily towards nursing, but did have the ability to add comments. It is definitely a live and learn process.

we use a stick on label that we wrap around the "tail" of the bag. That way it is sticky side to sticky side and not to plastic. Can't fall off.

I remember a long time ago having a male med tech student (never transfused) with anti-E. Of course, have also seen other probably naturally occuring anti-E's over the years but this one we knew for certain. Not uncommon as mentioned above. Fortunately the baby in your case will be E neg.

After I brought up the idea of hyperhemolysis, our medical director got with the hem-onc doc and they decidedd that is what it has to be. He is being treated with plasma exchange and I don't know what else. I hope he doesn't have another sickle crisis anytime soon. Thanks for all your input. Merry Christmas everyone.

Any thoughts: Have a patient who had a 10 unit red cell exchange 3 days ago without incident. He is now hemolyzing with a hemoglobin drop of 5-6 grams/dl. LDH has jumped to over 3000. Platelets are low. Antibody screen is negative in gel, negative in PEG using polyspecific Cooms.(also neg at room temp). Dat is neg both pre and post using tube and gel testing.enzyme screen is also neg. Any ideas as to what is going on? Thanks everyone.

We had VSS 5835and got a few strong pos reactions on cell 3 which were negative with every panel cell. Ortho replaced it.

Dr Pepper, I know its cold, I grew up in Farmington, NH. My Mom had a rule that said if it was below 0 she would give us a ride to school otherwise we walked. When I worked in Boston I parked over a half mile from work and would wear ski pants over scrubs on really cold days. The good part about retiring is that I won't have to shovel snow at 4 in the morning so I can go to work, it just can wait until daylight. By the way I have enjoyed bicycling thru Alfred. Pretty area. In the north you get cold and in the south you get too hot. There must be a perfect place somewhere.

I think I will get away from the venting,(although venting can be very important to ones sanity at times) because although we have a few issues (generally minor, like not checking pending logs when they are supposed to and acting on them) for the most part my techs are very responsible and really take their jobs to heart. They all really care and I am so thankful to have worked with this group for the last 12+ years. I will be retiring Jan 3 and its been a great group to work with. I will still PRN a few shifts here and there but not as manager. I will still check in on BB Talk. Will have time to visit and spoil my little grandbaby. Hopefully get to move back to New England (New Hampshire or Maine), depends on the housing market. Anyway, Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to all of you. Thanks so much for this website, it is a great thing.

Similar to above. The nurse (or courier) has to bring an issue slip with the product checked off. If we have the product reserved or crossmatched we issue it. It is up to the transfusionist to check the orders to make sure there is a "transfuse blood component" order. The issue slip must be signed by a nurse or physician extender or we won't accept it.

We too, use bleach for monthly maintenance on the cell washers. But for the drains we got the plumbing guys to put little drain sinks in the counter for each cell washer. Works great. I

we have done it annually up to now, but from now on it will be every 2 years.

Since one cannot say that something will "never" happen or that it will "always" happen I think it is a good idea to verify donor units even if the donor system uses a computerized labeling process. We verify the ABO with A,B antisera for group O's and use A and B for the rest. We only confirm the Rh on Rh negative units.

Good Morning fellow Blood Bankers, Just wondering how often do you review procedures and policies? Thanks for the input.