JoyDenver

I am a recently retired Lab Manager, former COLA Surveyor, and Transfusion Specialist in Denver, CO. Ready to get back into the workforce in a remote capacity. I have extensive experience with various LIS vendors most recently with Softlab. If anyone has any leads or suggestions, I deeply appreciate it.

Would anyone be willing to share their procedure for performing periodic BB frig alarm checks with the TempTrak monitoring system? I am the new Lab director at facilities that uses this system and we currently do not have an actual procedure for performing these checks. It is my understanding that you cannot effectively cool or heat the sensor to activate the alarm like you would for a traditional manual alarm check. Thanks

I told the lab just that and they will immediately implement using a fetal screen for their ONeg moms with Rh Pos babies. It's always a good feeling that I can come into a small rural hospital to educate them on their BB practices to better serve their community. I feel I've done my job as a COLA Accreditation Surveyor!

As a COLA Surveyor I inspect many small rural hospital Blood Banks and I have never run across a procedure like this: "If the post-partum Rh test on the mother is mixed fieldpositive, a sample of the mother's blood is sent to the reference lab at the blood center for quantiation of the FMH by KB stain". The Lab uses Ortho gel for their ABORh testing. I have always thought routine Anti-D reagents are not manufactured for this purpose (detecting FMH) and a Fetal Screen must be performed because the Anti-D in the FS kit is modified and FDA approved to detect smaller quantities of fetal blood that may be in Mom's circulation. What is the best explaination I can give this Lab to convince them their paractice may be unsafe.

In all my years performing lab inspections, I never really thought of this... Most labs will QC their MTS IgG cards using the IAT method (QC serum w/ antibodies and screening cells) of course, but I don't see labs performing QC with the direct AHG method using IgG coated cells. And, of course the maunfacturer's instructions are vague. What are others doing and how have other accreditation agencies (I'm with COLA) interpreted the QC requirements for the IgG cards for indirect and direct AHG testing?

I'm a cola surveyor and their BB specialist. You determine the acceptable range of your refrigerator as 1-6C but if you store reagents in the same frig as your blood products, then the range must be 2-6C in order to have a range that is acceptable to everything that is stored in the frig.

Since many of the newer refrigerators have an elecronic alarm check system that simulates the temperature change, does anyone still do the manual checks with cold and warm water? Does AABB and CAP accept the simulated alarm checks? It is my understanding that the simulated checks will not record the temp changes on the chart; is this right? and is that a problem with inspectors? I am a Surveyor with COLA and I am in the process of revising our criteria for Transfusion Services. Out in the field I still have my clients perform the manual checks at least quarterly. Am I being too harsh?

I'd like to RSVP joydenver@aol.com

I'm a surveyor for COLA and Transfusion service facilitator and have been given the task to revise our criteria. I would like to be sure COLA is up to date with AABB and CAP so if there is a spreadsheet out there ( I know there is) I won't have to reinvent the wheel.

Does anyone have a chart or spread sheet that compares the regulatory criteria for FDA, CAP, AABB, TJC they would be willing to share. Or if anyone knows a good place to look...Thanks

Other than Bonfils (who I know are not hiring right now) University of Co Hospital and Children's Hospital uses only dedicated BBer's. There are also two hospitals that have openings for BB supervisors Lutheran Med center and Aurora Med center.

Even though the CA Surveyor position is filled, keep trying...there are always openings since COLA is expanding their Surveyor base

TVC15, The Accreditation Agency, COLA, is always looking for Surveyors, especially in California. You should check us out!

As a COLA Surveyor, I always recommend the Blood Banks I inspect to create Proficiency testing patient files and rbc files into their LIS so that it can be used as a very comprehensive competency assessment. Not only are you assessing the performance of the test, but computer entry skills.

My first guess is that the dad is not the father