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If we know the patient's history and they are Rh Neg we might start off with a couple of Rh Neg O's. We switch them over pretty quickly if they are going to use more. Otherwise - they get O Pos. Took people in and outside of the lab a little while to get comfortable with this policy, but now no one blinks. sandra

In Canada - CBS abandoned going the pooled cryo route since the trend is to move away from cryo and use fibrinogen concentrate instead. I'm actually in the process of doing just that at our hospital. We use a small amount (around 50mL) when pooling as per AABB. I can't imagine not using saline to get all the sticky bits out! Do you have a patient with a rare factor deficiency who is using all this cryo? Interesting! sandra

Hi! We use a traceable thermometer with a probe placed in a gel card well, too. https://ca.vwr.com/store/catalog/product.jsp?product_id=4556196 We replace it when the certification expires. sandra

We do not use them. We require two blood groups before transfusion (or given O). Positive patient identification (Mobilab) is used here at our hospital. We are lucky - PPI with majority of blood collected by MLA).

Congratulations! Very well deserved!

I haven't heard anything, but I'm just outside of Toronto. Interesting idea! I'll keep my ear to the ground

I agree with NicolePCanada - I would have made a special effort to search you out and introduce myself Malcom Good conference overall. More research based than conferences I'm used to going to (I've been to CSTM and AABB in the past), but really interesting. However, I'm concerned that the rest of the world thinks Canadians eat cookies for breakfast, lunch, and dinner . sandra

ISBT starts tomorrow in Toronto! For anyone attending, WELCOME TO CANADA!

I do! sandraAntibody Art or Science Answers.pdf

Same in Canada. 4 hours from when it leaves the lab.

We do. As long as the current sample matches (and the historical blood group is in the LIS) we are good to go! s

Thanks Scott and LK11. We are looking at something similar here but with Meditech. I'm just not sure how to track/make sure the correct expiry date is in there. Although, I'm not sure how we are tracking it now either... 😰

So, if the patient gets transfused and the sample is still valid for 10 days in the LIS, does the tech then need to manually edit the expiry date to 96 hours?

We have a policy to keep ours for 72 hours. Any longer than that and we request a heel pick.

We keep segments only too. This is a new change for us because until recently every bag was returned. It was really handy if a unit needed to be cultured. I'm not sure we will always get the bag back when needed for culturing in the future (depending on the timing).