ejani

Odd question... does anybody know if there are any published papers or references on how much time it takes to keep a blood banker proficient and competent when they are required to be competent in different laboratory departments?

I was wondering if anyone out there would be willing to share their transfusion medicine specimen rejection rate and what system is used for collection, for example, typenex, electronic, hospital bands, etc.? We use typenex bands with an accompany ID form and we average 3% rejection. We have been working with the Quality department in reducing the rejection rate, but there I am unable to find any published data on the average rate. We are in the forever, Nursing versus Lab debate in this project. Thanks!

I have the same problem and I can't find any published date either. Our Transfusion Service rejects between 3-4% of our total blood bank specimens collected. We have been working with Nursing to help correct the problem with Nursing Collected specimens with no luck.

I am sorry if this has been discussed previous... I searched and didn't find anything. Quick question... We are transfusion service that performs DAT's using poly-clonal IgG... if it is positive, we run the mono-clonal IgG, however, we do not run the C3d. How many of you would and/or do run the complement control cells for DAT QC in addition to Check Cells?

Hi! We are four hours from our blood supplier through a Mountain Pass to boot... We have a level 3 designated Trauma center but typically treat level 2 cases. We care 6 platelets daily.

Hi Everyone! Quick question... some of our physicians would like to move away from a saline prime in the blood administration tubing and prime with blood. I am not finding much literature on the pros and cons of either. What is everyone else doing out there? And, do you know of any great references on the subject? Thanks!

Hello... I am sorry if this has been addressed earlier. I haven't been able to find any information on this topic or references. Our trauma coordinator is asking: "During a massive transfusion can they alternate 1 packed red blood cell and 1 fresh frozen plasma in the same line going to the same site"? I would say yes, but she would like hard references for the physician education. Any advice or references you would like to share would be great! Thanks

Hello Blood Bankers... Our facility is currently validating electronic crossmatching and I have a question... The AABB guideline for implementing an electronic crossmatch suggests having two separate sources of ABO/Rh anti-sera for testing the ABO/Rh. The second blood types should be from a separately collected specimen. Our facility currently draws a second specimen if the patient does not have a blood type on file in our Blood Bank. Is testing the initial and 2nd specimen with two different anti-sera's really necessary? Thanks in advance for your input.

Thanks for all the great feedback!

Our laboratory management would like to hire a MLT for Blood Bank. How many of you have MLT's in the blood bank? And if so, what has been your experience?

Our facility currently uses the second banding system (typenex), one specimen for one band. We are in debate with Nursing personnel on whose responsibility it is to remove the Typenex band once it is expired. Any feedback, suggestions or experiences?

Our facility is changing the risk reduction plan for mistransfusion. The plan is to collect a second sample for those who do not have a history in the Blood Bank as recommended by CAP (TRM.30575). The problem we are encountering is with the Operating Room. The OR does not want to collect a second specimen for those who do not have an ABO/Rh on file. They are adamant they will draw from one site and send two tubes. We are hesitant to use “O’s” in these cases because it is not the best utilization. I have looked through previous postings and don’t see a whole lot about the Operating Room. Any suggestions?

Our facility is revising our collection policy and we have a debate going on in the blood bank. The question is: If you are working on a current three day specimen and you run out of that specimen and crossmatching still needs to be performed, do you : A. Re-collect the specimen using the current band number and no pre-transfusing testing is necessary, continue on with crossmatching. or B. Re-band the patient, collect a new specimen and start over with the pre-transfusing testing on the new specimen? Any information as to what your facility does would be great! Thanks

Hello all... I am trying to devise a Deviation Form for the Tech's and/or Supervisors to use when non-significant (miscellaneous) errors occur. It needs to be standardized for Blood Bank, Hematology and Chemistry. We do have an occurrence log, but that doesn't seem to capture everything and is not confidential for Tech's who are involved in the error. Does anyone have suggestions or systems already in place that they would like suggest?

That is what I was thinking as well. We had already done a DAT, which was negative. The baby is an AP and Mom is an OP. The neonate had a bilirubin spike 24 hours after birth and the physician thought it still might be ABO related, even with a negative DAT. So, she wanted an antibody screen on the cord blood to rule out any further possible antibodies. I think she might be confused in the fact that we typically use maternal plasma. The technologist accommodated the physician and did the antibody screen on the cord blood. Thanks for your response.