lalamb

What do folks use for GC/Chlamydia DNA testing? We are using one from Beckton Dichenson but are switching to a new one. Supposedly takes more tech time. Are there any out there that people like?

WE are having to switch to all Coulter instruments, chem and hemo. The hemo DxH is ok when it's not plugged and we're not up on the chemistry DcX yet. More to follow. Am happy these other forums are open and hopefully the word will spread

It's so new!! I just posted something in the hemo talk to get things going. Now it's time to tell all my coworkers about the site. Now, if only Cliff would add a Point of Care section, lab folks would never need to wander:cool:

We have had our new Coulter DxH's for a while and have problems w/clots/debris. Our lead hemo CLS just went to Portland for an end users conference. Anyone use the DxH and had problems?

Our situation is similar to Brenda's. Patient is drawn, banded and answers a questionnaire: been preg , rec'd bld products , rec'd tissue/transplant/graft w/in the last 3 months, been told you ever had an Ab or a reaction to a blood product? Patient and phlebotomist both sigh the document (which goes in the "Save Forever" file). (We will be scanning in all documents shortly so this will go into the pt's electronic file) If patient answers NO to all questions, the specimen is good for testing, for 7 days. Units can be added on Day 7 - each crossed unit is good for 3 days - hence we get the 10 day rule. Pt drawn on a MON the 1st- surgery on following MON the 7th - blood needed so 2 units crossed on day 7 -blood good till Thurs the 10th at midnight. Patient must not have removed their BB band. Otherwise they need to be rebanded and retested. OF course, if there was a problem, we'd have a heads up on it.

When will the new sites/tabs be available? Am anxious for CoagTalk...

"I'm sorry but I'm am confused with this. Was the saline with the pH of 5.6, 5.9 taken directly from the cube? Did you do anything to alter the pH to get the 6.5, 6.7? Just what reagent is Immucor working on? When the pH was at 6.5, 6.7 were the check cells working as expected?" The original pH was from the cell wash dispense. That was repeated and slighlty different values were obtained. The saline was also pH'ed directly from the cube. Not felling too good about the varied answeres. The reagent in question was Immucors Check Cells - we've noticed weaker readings and have tried to troubleshoot. As far as I know, theres been no difference in shipping. The cell washer manufactureer suggested a slight change in the "decanting' rate/speed. For now - we are useing the freshest cells (usually have 3 lot #'s on hand), and if the CC is 2+weak or less, we are hand washing. I'm wondering if the CC's aren't as stable as they used to be...

Echo rep visited w/us yesterday. She said validation for us wouldn't be that bad, as we do tubes w/PEG, and the LISS for capture had a similar potentiating strength/sensitivity as PEG. Woundn't be as hard as compareing tube LISS (less sensitive) to ie gel (more sensitive).

Yes- i so agree. So now we are hand washing, to see if that makes a difference. If so, we'll rpt w/hand washing any CC value less than 2+s (on every patient?????) have the cell washers maintenanced, (what are the chances that 2 different cell washers both have a decanting problem at the same time???), and whatever else I can come up with...gggrrr

We have been noticing weaker check cell reactions, sometimes variabley, for the past ~2 months. This kinda coincided w/when we changed from a 20L cube of saline to a 10L cube of saline. Use to get strong 3+'s, now get from weak 3+(gently shake) to srtong 1+. We use tubes w/PEG. Checked the cell washer dispense volumes = ok Checked the saline pH (on a lark) = 5.6, 5.9. aahhhhh. (Subsequent pH checks were ok-6.5, 6.7) Called Immucor - they have had customer complaints of "weaker check cell reactions" for about 2 months. (Our sister hospital has also noticed some weaker rxn's.) Per Immucor, they are working on it. Unsure of the cause. Anyone else see this?

WE also have PathNet, and the Emergency Dispense is nice. Just freetext in a name. When ER askes for emergency O neg, we ask ER for a name. Sometimes the patient is known. ER also has a list of made up names, but in our location, they could be real! We also photocopy the unit and attach segments to it w/the unit stickers, time permitting - makes it easier to do computer work and follow up XM later. Question about getting a Dr's signature for issuing uncrossed blood: We have an ancient form the Dr signs. Usually write in the name or use a hospital label, and have the Dr sign it, when things calm down. Have never had a problem with not getting a signature. Our new LIS, PathNet, has a place for the Dr to sign, on the actual BB Emergency Tag. HAve not used it though, as I assumed the Dr would prefer to sign 1 document , instead of multiple documents (each tag). The benefit of the Dr signing each emergency tag would be that the signature is in the patients chart, but it would not reside in the lab. Where should the Dr's signature for release reside? In the Blood Bank, in the patients chart or both?

We accept verbal orders during emergency situations- trauma or OR. This generally happens with uncrossmatched for trauma or OR patients who start massively bleeding and we run out of what was originally set up. Same here. Our ER is good about signing releases after the chaos has calmed down.

~5 years ago we had a Rh "Pos" adult who was given Rh pos blood and developed and anti-D. Checking the pt's history , turned out he was a Du pos. So, we stoped testing/reporting Du status on adults. If D = neg at IS, they are reported as Rh neg. This, of course, has led to discrepancies w/some OB patients. Sent and explanitory letter to OB saying what had historically been done and why, and whats done now. We only do Du testing on Rh neg babies of Rh IS neg mom's. I am interested in the verbage of "Rh indeterminate" for the baby. We currently call Rh IS neg, Du pos baby as Rh pos, to trigger Rhogam for the mom. But you are correct - don't want the "fake" Rh status of Pos to follow the baby into adulthood. Will have to look into that...

We use hand written Typenex bands (name, MRN, Date, Time , Phelb/rn identifier). DOB or finanical biling # (which is unique) is accepted but rarely used. MRN's can turn over and be reused. We don't want pre typed labels - to easy to pick up the wrong one, and the print is so small, it's easy to miss subtle spelling variations. Labeling aliquote tubes forces one to look at the spelling, date,etc. We don't let the phlebs/RN's correct anything on the labels -not the date or adding their initilas, or fixing transposed letters, or missed double letters. Don't want the staff in the position of " well, she let me change this, why won't you?" The dialoge of "this would not be good in court" seems to be working. We get less grief now when/if we need a redraw. I'm content to be the *$(%(# in BB.

Form signed once per admission. but nurse brings it down to sign out every unit.

We are a small hospital and we do require to have a copy of all blood bank orders, esp for out patients. This is mostly to make sure unusual/infrequent items aren't missed (do titre if AB ID is pos, need irradiated products). Also to have dates of surgeries and to confirm DOB. No good way to document surgery schedule in the LIS (in a place that won't get missed). When nurses come down to check out a unit of blood, they need to bring down a signed copy of the "patient has been informed of transfusion risks and has consented to recieve blood" document. (we had to start doing this as of our last inspection. If the Dr hasn't signed the document, we send the nurses back to get it. Not so much of a problem now as everyone is used to it and they are prepared) The nurses stick the patients hopital label on this signed doc , so we have their Med Record #, DOB, acct #, and name, all on 1 document. All of this info is read to the nurses and they read it back to us, before they walk out w/the blood. We actually feel good about this as some rare tagging snafu's have occured. Better to fine out BEFORE the unit leaves the lab. Might not pharmacy and blood bank have something in common? We are issuing something that will be inject INTO the patient. Miss labeled/wrong test hemo,chem specimens have the possiblity of being recognized as wrong, via the delta check. If a Dr gets a test s/he didn't order, oh boy, will you hear about it. Can always rerun a test.

Well I hope I attahced these files correctly. I have included checklists of our Core 1 and Core 2 areas - Daily Instrument Problem Log - as needed Daily Chem analyzer - daily QC result check off sheet - daily Dep Supervisor Monthly Checkoff list -monthly Daily BB check off list - daily Boy, we kill a lot of trees. These do help us stay on track. Little things can easily get lost. [ATTACH]408[/ATTACH] Core 1 checklist.xls Core 2 Checklist MAY2010.xls Instrument Problem Log ver 2.doc RXL DAILY QC SURVEILLANCE.xls Periodic Supervisory Review checklist-Chem.xls BB monthly review ver2.xls

WE do have daily check lists, for individual areas, and 2 Overall ones. They list maintenance and QC items, and a check to see it the prior shift did their stuff! It is tedious but we have come to find that they are memory joggers and we rely on them. Esp good for people who float. The dept supervisors also have monthly chek off list - reviews of stuff like QC, calibrations, inventory are here. These list have gone through many changes, but if you're interested, I can send you some.

Under New Posts, what do the envelope colors, blue and orange mean?

...never mind...found them

Totally agree here - the organization will be very clear and defined. Calling it PathLab may be confusing for people looking for clinical lab info.

Each new section will be color coded. As an example all pages related to chemistry will have a red theme, all pages related to heme will have an orange theme, all pages related to blood bank will have a blue theme. The last part will remain true - the bloodbank section will keep the same color it has now to maintain familiarity. Cliff - can I suggest that chemistry be yellow ( gold top tube/serum color), heme should be purple (EDTA lav top tube), BB should be fire engine Red.(duh) , coag be blue (citrated blue top). Sorry - I have been painting and organizing lately... What/where are the choices of new names? I can't seem to find them?

What do you mean by "calculation"? The only time we perform weak D testing is "on Rh neg babies of Rh neg moms". If the cord blood is Rn neg and Du neg - baby is reported out as Rh neg only. (Our LIS has a place to record the Du testing but Dr never sees it - too confusing).

We do microscopic exams on neg Cord DAt's, and add a comment "DAT is negative microscopically" Gives us confidence that a weak/scratchy pos isn't missed.

Is there such a beast? Like transplant anti-rejecion meds but for transfused blood? If so, why doesn't averyone get it? No Ab's would be made, no Ab:Ag reactions to worry about and we'd all be out of a job...