mollyredone

I agree. Those sections can go. Thanks for all you do!

antii V, I have learned so much from this forum. This is my go-to place when I have a question and need to search something out! Molly

Thanks for posting that! I googled it and came up with the guidelines. I don't know of any correlation with AABB here in the states. Does anyone else know?

Malcolm, that must be devastating! Here's hoping that you are all okay and that you can find a place to live soon! Mari

I have all blood bank techs do routine daily QC once a quarter, and they fill in an extra QC sheet I've made, where they also fill in Qc when opening new reagents, etc. We still do it in the morning as usual.

David, guess I posted at the same time you did! thanks for the info. Mari

If you use gel you can screen your units with 25uL of antisera (after you validate of course). I have found that the Lewis antisera did not work in gel and different manufacturer's sometimes did and sometimes did not work well. Most work great in gel. David, how many samples did you use to validate using antisera in gel? Do you use heterozygous cells? I think it's a great idea! We have used patient samples to screen units preliminarily as well. We screen for antigens if the probability is >50%, otherwise we will order ag negative units from ARC.

I have been trying to find a "legal" answer to the question of how long to keep workups on deceased patients. Haven't gotten a real answer yet. Anyone? TIA

Mabel, from the first answer at the FDA session and Dr. Drew's response, it sounds to me like we have to notify the doctor. I wouldn't ask if he is going to notify the family, since that is an obligation for him/her not us. We must notify the doctor or a representative of the family and if we notify the doctor that is doing our part. And it's great to see Dr. Drew posting!!

Mabel, you are right. I just followed what we had been ordering for the past several years before I took over last year. So this is a good thing, and I will check everything else to make sure we are ordering the appropriate checks and balances!

Thanks, Phil!

Thanks Barbara!

We use a product called "Gamma-clone Control" As far as I know, it has not been discontinued Thanks, bldbnker, do you also use the anti-D, series 4?

Phil, that's why I was asking, since I thought the "blank" Rh control should match the reagent. We also use Immucor Anti-D series 4, and yes it is the high-protein one that is being discontinued. Ours expires June 8th!! Which is the Monoclonal control? Do you have the product number? Thanks!

Immucor has discontinued its Rh Control, which we used for AB Pos patients. What are you going to use as a substitute? I understand it is supposed to have the same base as the anti-sera. Can I use albumin instead? thanks, Mari

What Amelia said in her original post was that if the gel screen was positive the techs wanted to do a tube SCREEN, a tube panel and she would like them to do a gel panel. I am in the process of trying to make a flow chart as well, so everyone is on the same procedural page with new patients. I agree that even if the tube screen (which I would do if the gel screen and panel were junky) is negative, I would not be comfortable with IS XM and would do gel XM.

We still label our retyped units, but we just use a round green sticker that we don't have to write on. We don't have a separate shelf to separate, although any units that are laying flat on the shelf would be suspect, but the green circle is reassuring! Our computer won't let us XM non-retyped units either. We use a label from the unit to label the segments.

I had asked a question a while back about how long you had to keep records on patients with antibodies after they had passed away. No clear answer, so I'll ask again-anybody? Is it state dependent (how long you can be sued)? Do we assume heaven might want to check on their antibody status at some point?? thanks!

No, we are a lowly level III trauma center.

TVC15, I work in Oregon and we are allowed a maximum of 6 ON units at our hospital. That number used to be our minimum. We live three hours from our supplier and 2 hours from another trauma hospital. We do not have the luxury of handing out ON to everyone who comes through the door bleeding!

We got the Igloo Legend 12 coolers. They hold two freezer packs and a basket to keep the units from touching the packs. They hold temp at less than 6 degrees for at least 6 hours. We usually only put two units in at a time. They're about $20 and I got them at Ace hardware.

Malcolm, first you're talking about chocolate eggs, now you're talking about TACOs! You're making me hungry! No, seriously, that situation over the weekend will be discussed in utilization review!

Elin, wow does that hit home for me today! Over the weekend we had a patient with an INR of 9, a HGB of 11 and a PLT of 21. ER ordered 4 FFP, and gave them. I believe they did a PT then, with an INR of 2. On the floor, the dr ordered 4 more FFP, 1 cryo (FBG<50) and PPH. They drew a CBC from a line and got a HGB of 4, so they also ordered 4 PRBC, with two on keep-ahead. In less than 12 hours the pt got 1 cryo, 1 PPH, 8 FFP and 7 PRBC and then died.

Liz, I think she meant test tubes for testing, not patient sample tubes. Anytime you drop one of those tubes, they go everywhere! We still use them for ABO and some tube testing.

"Well, I think part of our problem (and it just hit me in looking at the great outdates you have), is that we give ALL Irradiated RBCs!" Brenda, are you allowed to pass that charge on to the patient?? Seems like a waste of money, not to mention shorter outdates! Mari