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kholshoe

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Posts posted by kholshoe

    Sysmex Hematology Analyzers

    in General Information

    Posted

    Hi all,

     

    Wondering who out there is using Sysmex hematology analyzers!  We will be moving to the Sysmex XN Series analyzers sometime this year.  Currently working on presenting information for the capital budget - and sifting through the various options available.

     

    Does anyone out there use the Celluvision? If so, would like to know your thoughts on it.  It is an expensive add-on...but seems interesting.

    Help with specific CAP requirements

    in General Information

    Posted

    Hi all,

     

    I'm trying to re-vamp our preventative maintenance/equipment function check process.  I can't seem to find the following in any of the CAP checklists (lab general, all common, or hematology/coags):

     

    • How often must centrifuge timers be checked?
    • How often must centrifuge rpms be checked?
    • How often is it required to have microscopes PM'ed?

    Wondering with what frequency the rest of you perform these.  Currently, we are checking timers and rpms quarterly and microscopes are serviced semi-annually.  Seems like it may be overkill...

    Help with specific CAP requirements

    in General Information

    Posted

    Hi all,

     

    I'm trying to re-vamp our preventative maintenance/equipment function check process.  I can't seem to find the following in any of the CAP checklists (lab general, all common, or hematology/coags):

     

    • How often must centrifuge timers be checked?
    • How often must centrifuge rpms be checked?
    • How often is it required to have microscopes PM'ed?

    Wondering with what frequency the rest of you perform these.  Currently, we are checking timers and rpms quarterly and microscopes are serviced semi-annually.  Seems like it may be overkill...

    Competency Assessment Cry for Help! =)

    in General Information

    Posted

    Thanks everyone for all the replies!  It is interesting to see what everyone else does to handle some of this...

     

    Can anyone tell me what kit/reagent you use to perform Kleihauers?  We use the Simmler kit - which is why I'm thinking we would go through alot of kits to complete a competency for everyone. 

     

    Also something I'm wondering - does everyone / every shift do Kleihauers in your lab?  There was a suggestion to only have day shift perform these, but I know there is a question of stats - which can come in at any time...  Then again, we do have 72 hours to administer Rhophylac... thoughts???

    Competency Assessment Cry for Help! =)

    in General Information

    Posted

    Auntie D - so you do actually have every tech perform a Kleihauer?  Do you coordinate this by getting everyone together and using the same stain?  I'm just thinking of the logistics of having 20 techs across 3 shifts perform this - we would use up at least several kits doing this.  Seems like a lot for a test we perform maybe once every few months...

    Competency Assessment Cry for Help! =)

    in General Information

    Posted

    Hello all,

     

    Reviewing our tech's competency assessment for 2013 thus far - and I have a few questions for all of you that I'm hoping you can help with:

     

    1.  Regarding the 6 elements - we have direct observation checklists that account for 5 of the 6 of these.  However, we always struggle with the "assessment of test performance through previously analyzed specimens, internal blind sample testing, CAP specimen, etc..."  If a tech has completed a CAP survey for a testing procedure - this counts for that.  However, we have many more techs than CAP specimens.  Do you create blind samples for everyone for each procedure?  Seems like a HUGE job.

     

    2.  Which brings me to this: What do you do to satisfy this element for the tests that you perform infrequently?  In our case in hematology/coags - I've got Kleihauer Betke stains and sperm screens I'm most concerned about (post-vasectomy only).  To create a "blind sample" for everyone to complete a Kleihauer would be extremely time consuming and expensive (we'd blow through tons of kits doing this).  And, I don't even want to get into the logistics of a sperm screen "blind sample" - how do you fake this one?  lol

     

    Obviously, there are options and ways around these things - I'm just trying to get a feeling for what everyone else does.  Any help you could provide would be great.

     

    Thanks,

     

    Kristen

    Platelet Function Analyzers

    in General Information

    Posted

    Scott,

     

    Thanks for the information!  Our OR team has actually already listed several references for us - most of which are out-of-state (somewhere they've worked previously).  I believe there was one subsidiary of ours that is using it currently, and it is located in the OR.  From what I've reviewed, it looks like it would be a time-intensive procedure to run.  Also looks like there is alot of interpretation involved with the results.  One rep suggested only having a few people learn how to use the TEG.  I don't know about you guys, but we are so scantily staffed - we can't take on yet another analyzer that only a few people know how to use (causes all sorts of scheduling problems).  We already have this problem with other instruments...

    Platelet Function Analyzers

    in General Information

    Posted

    Well there's more to the story really. LOL. Our OR team really wants the TEG, but they kinda want lab to be responsible for it. We also feel the interpretation is complex. The perfusionists, anesthesiologists, and surgeons could use it in the OR themselves - but that is a less attractive option to them as it means they will likely be called in to operate it.

    Scott - does the PFA 100 only screen for aspirin effect and the VerifyNow screen for additional therapies?

    Platelet Function Analyzers

    in General Information

    Posted

    Well there's more to the story really. LOL. Our OR team really wants the TEG, but they kinda want lab to be responsible for it. We also feel the interpretation is complex. The perfusionists, anesthesiologists, and surgeons could use it in the OR themselves - but that is a less attractive option to them as it means they will likely be called in to operate it.

    Scott - does the PFA 100 only screen for aspirin effect and the VerifyNow screen for additional therapies?

    Platelet Function Analyzers

    in General Information

    Posted

    Looking for feedback on the various platelet function analyzers!  We are not currently performing this type of testing, but there seems to be an increased interest from our physicians.

     

    We are in the process of comparing the PFA-100, Chronologs, and Accumetric's VerifyNow.  We are just in the beginning stages of looking into this. 

     

    Is anyone out there using any of these analyzers?  I'd like to hear some thoughts...

    Establishing reference ranges for Factor VIII testing

    in General Information

    Posted

    Thanks everyone!  We have a procedure in place to establish control means and ranges, but my question was actually referring to the test reference range itself.  Ie...how do you establish a new "normal" reportable range with a new lot of reagent?  I'm not sure I'm being clear =P

     

    Nziegler - when you stated: " you don't need to validate reference ranges for patient results when a lot number switches" - are you referring to control ranges or assay ranges?  Can you point me to some documenation supporting this?  That would be great!

     

    Thanks again =)

    Anyone want to help a newbie supervisor?

    in General Information

    Posted

    "We have had issues with our sed rate analyzer for a few weeks"   Issues? If the issues are so bad that you need a new one why use the old one for comparison?

     

    Grippy,

     

    The only "issues" that were occurring with our analyzer were happening with the barcode reader and the ability to manually type in patient IDs.  The analyzer itself has been, and still is, functioning just fine (ie, QC has been within limits, etc..).

     

    Obviously if the problem with the original instrument was analytical, I would not be using it for anything at this point - including comparison studies ;)

    Anyone want to help a newbie supervisor?

    in General Information

    Posted

    I'm thinking a reproducibility study on this might just be overkill as well.  Several of the other supervisors in the lab suggested running QC on both the old and the new analyzer for one week.  And, also running some patient comparisons (but they felt that 10 samples should be sufficient). 

     

    Nothing is changing in my procedure/policy because the instrument is exactly the same model, etc.  I guess I'd feel like more studies were necessary if we were moving from one method of analysis to an entirely new method of analysis.

     

    I agree that alot of this seems silly....a sed rate analyzer is truly just a "reader" like you said.  Thanks for your opinion!

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