BldBnker

So sorry to hear this. My condolences.

I have used Immucor Echo instruments since 2008. I love them! There are still some issues with cold antibodies and weakly positive DAT's causing positive screens, as with any newer methodology. Unfortunately, we are going to be going to the Ortho Visions due to corporate decisions. I'm trying to be optimistic but am thankful to be in the latter part of my career (3 years to go!).

Sonya Martinez, Where are you going to get the COVID-19 convalescent plasma? I had a physician inquire about that this morning. I don't think our normal providers will have that as it is still considered "experimental." Thanks!

I would appreciate you sharing with me also! I am not fond of our form we use now. Thanks!

There have been many improvements over my career. Now, of course, we have barcode scanners being used by our phlebotomists which have greatly decreased the number of mislabeled samples. We also have Epic BPAM for transfusions. However, we are all human and we still have the rare specimen error, usually in a hurried/emergent situation (when SOP's sometime go out the window, unfortunately). A bedside ABO slide type would have saved the patient in Texas that recently passed from an ABO HTR.

That was my point. Yes, if the sample is the same type as the patient in the bed but wrong patient's sample, it won't catch WBIT. However, it has saved us several ABO HTR's in my career (30+ years). I call that a good catch!

We perform at bedside slide blood type for confirmation before starting blood at the hospital where I work. A Blood Bank employee (Blood Bank Assistant/Transfusionist) takes the issued blood to the patient's bedside and participates in the starting of the transfusion with nursing personnel. The slide type is an extra layer of patient safety. Pre-transfusion testing is only as good as the quality of sample! We have caught wrong-blood-in-tube (mislabeled) samples this way. We also have computer confirmation with barcoding of units but that doesn't always catch WBIT samples.

Me too! Epic and Softbank!

The patient's DAT is positive, right? Has the patient received ABO incompatible platelets lately? Or received Immunoglobulin therapy (gamma globulins)? I have seen both of those scenarios cause incompatibilities with the patient's own type. Could be either Anti-A or Anti-A,B from O platelets or the gamma globulin therapy.

We have the ability to program our system to accept "untested" units for selection for antigens that do not have available anti-sera, like Cob, Bga, or Vell etc. We use SoftBank.

What other compatible IV solutions? I think 0.9% saline is the only one.

We do the antigen testing for units ordered from our blood service. We have found units that were supposedly negative for an antigen but actually positive. We also are required by our computer system to enter the antigen testing results for a unit before it will allow the selection of that unit to a patient with the corresponding antibody.

We (the Blood Bank) evaluate for Rh Immune Globulin at our facility. Since we issue, deliver the Rh Immune Globulin to the floor and do the FMH testing (we also have the KB results from our Hematology Department), we issue the appropriate amount of Rh Immune Globulin syringes to be taken to the floor (based on KB results).

We do not notify our medical director. We alert the nurse taking care of the patient that more than 1 vial of Rh Immune Globulin is needed due to a positive FMH. The KB results are on the chart also. The nurses inform the patient's physicians.

That is what my former supervisor used to say (he was a tech for over 50 years)! Get the titer up where you can work with it! God rest him!