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I wish I could make it!!! I would love to catch both talks, but especially the King Henry VIII! s

We do the same - issue until the sample expires. s

We allow 28 days for pre-admit patients here in our hospital. (Every other sample is good for 96 hours). Same time frame now that samples are not separated as it was back when they were separated and the plasma frozen. And, we have had no issues since making the switch. s

We used to separate samples here too (cells in the fridge, plasma in the freezer). We didn't have any problems, but I felt like it was inevitable. We don't do it anymore. Saves everyone a step which makes everyone happy! We also have fewer problems with cold precipitates and nuisance cold reacting antibodies after removing the plasma from the freezer for XM testing. s

We do not do an IAT XM if the antibody is only a passive anti-D. We still do IS XM here - but if/when we move to EXM I hope that it would allow it for passive anti-D. (Great idea above re: creating a new antibody! thanks!!) It can be a little confusing for some people, especially new staff, since we have generalists rotate through the core. But, worse case scenario is that they do extra work if they do an IAT XM. s

We are looking at automation for our lab (from manual gel). The rep from Immucor actually suggested we use the solid phase manual stations initially and then use the automation. Her rationale - since we were switching methodologies it would be good for staff to use and understand the solid phase before switching over to the automation part of it. I have to admit - I think it is something we would consider if/when we get automation! s

I have heard great things about the Tango! I have a question - what do you do for back up manual testing? s

KKidd - I think maybe we share a pathologist? Seriously tho... what else could it be? We do the modified Kleihauer with hematoxylin, but I wouldn't call it purple.... s

Thanks! We don't use the EXM yet here in our lab (it's on my long To Do List). When we enter the units in they are at AVA status. I guess you can set it up any way you like. So... do you retype all your units (which, I assume must have been done already by the supplier??? I'm in Canada, so I don't really know how that works in the US) and then perform an IS XM as well? Or do you use the EXM? Seems like a lot of extra work if no EXM. We do the same as mollyredone. Little yellow dots to identify the units that have been retyped. We use them any time we issue blood without a XM. s

Good morning! Just curious. It is set up so Meditech won't allow ANY type of XM without a retype? Not just an EXM? s

Oh they get used! We don't use the electronic XM yet. But, we need confirmed units for emergency XM. So we use the labels to ID the bags that have been retyped. Thanks for the post! When I finally do get around to setting up and validating the EXM I'll know we don't need to keep labeling! s

We do the same here s

We do the same as Liz. We only hold for 96 hours. If testing is needed after that, heel pick required. s

Cottage hospital in Santa Barbara. Sounds like a dream!

But then, two things that happened recently... 1. Our ER is undergoing some renovations and patients are being shuffled a bit. The director of the ER sent the lab (and Xray) an email requesting that we use patient ID armbands and not room numbers. (!!!!!) 2. I have revised the nursing blood administration policies and procedures. I spoke to the director of nursing to sign off on the procedures. She didn't think it was her job since these are just "guidelines" and there aren't any "shalls and shall nots" in them. :(:(:( Anyways, hope you all have a GREAT lab week! s

True enough - all great points. But, alas, we still do them every 3 months. Something to put on the "TO DO" list...

I had not! Honestly, I had to google it because I had never heard of it! In our area, I know other labs have old Provues, Visions, Echo/Neo and a couple of Tangos... Do you have experience with this analyzer??

Wow! Thanks for such an amazing, well thought out reply! I said Neo in an earlier post - I did mean Echo. We had a rep out here the other day who put on a presentation for the Neo/Echo. All the staff loved it. And we love the idea of automation. It just seems like such a big change to go to a whole different technology. The rep also mentioned that we would have the manual back up included. We are definitely getting out there to check out some other lab set ups. I have a long list of questions (as I always do!!!) for each of the other labs and I will definitely be adding a couple more points from the post above. Fingers crossed - I think automation is so important. So much safer and freeing up the tech to do work other than manual pipetting is so appealing!

Well, I don't WANT to switch from gel. But, when it comes down to it, I think the solid phase (the Neo anyways) is less expensive than the Vision. I really like the look of the vision, and a couple of hospitals in our area have just started using them and seem very happy so far. The reasons you state above are all the reasons I think staying with gel is the right choice for our lab.

I'm resurrecting this thread to pick your brains!!! - we are looking at automation as well. We have generalists (core lab) in our hospital - transfuse about 275-300 RBC per month. We are do manual testing currently - tube ABO/Rh and gel for screens and antibody idents. And... we are looking at automation. On my radar? The Ortho Vision, Immucor Echo and the Biorad Tango (the IH hasn't yet been approved for use). I'm curious to hear any thoughts from you all. What you like, didn't like, cost... How switching from gel to other methods went over... s

Ok... but are we also talking about when there are weak reactions with anti-D? Less than a 2+ reaction? Because, here at our lab, we will send out a female of childbearing potential (less than 45 for us) out for genotyping. Until those results come back, we treat her as Rh Negative. Other patients get treated as Rh Positive. We report out those patients as Rh Negative (override the blood group in the LIS), add a comment, and wait for the genotyping to come back. s

Distilled water with an algicide. Changed once a month or if there is a leak/contamination. I did notice that Cleanbath is recommended for our Helmer thawer in the manual... (Helmer CleanBath (400348-1) may be added to the water in the chamber to inhibit bacterial growth.) s

We do not use extra BB armbands here. We use the hospital armband for patient ID. Phlebotomy is done primarily by the lab (MLA) and almost all is done using a bedside scanner/label system (Mobilab), which has drastically reduced patient ID errors. I am hoping, in the near future, that we will be moving onto electronic XM which will then include a 2 blood group policy as well. That being said... many years ago I worked with at a place that used Tympanex armbands. It was before the LIS (the horror!!!) and in a situation where many people had the same name and hospital fraud was rampant. It worked well. Would I want it now? No way. s

We do the same. It is super easy to convert 3% to 0.8%. And, as I am sure everyone else does, we keep older panels and screening cells for extra cells if needed (our policy says we can use them up to 3 months expired as long as there is no hemolysis/turbidity) s