amym1586

I am soooooooooooooooooooooo predictable!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

We use Igloo Playmate MaxCold.  We validated them with five "dummy" units of red cells, one had a probe from our centralized temp monitoring system inserted into the bag.  At 24 hours, the temperature was reading 6.3C.  At a more realistic 10 hours, the tempeature was in the 4.5C-5C range.  We also have three of the large chest size for massive transfusions and liver transplants.  They validate even better!  These coolers are well made and MUCH cheaper than the Thermo ones.  Make sure you get the MaxCold series.  They are blue and white. 
 
Of course, the best cooler on the world is not going to work if they keep the lid open.  That is why we use an infrared gun thermometer to record the temp of all returned units. 

This side of the pond O Negs (Typed as CDE Neg, possibly plus Kell Neg) which are held as emergency blood have traditionally been described as "Flying Squad" blood (maybe because people fly around madly with it in an emergency hemorrhage situation).
Theater person would apply to anyone coming from theatre (or theater as you spell it) to collect units (could be a nurse, theatre assistant or theatre porter in our case). Hope this helps with the "Lost in Translation" DCeDCe.
 
Cheers
Eoin

Flying squad?? Theater person?? I am lost by your lingo. Please explain.....

Actually it is a blood derivative.
In the USofA blood is considered a drug by the FDA - to get better remuneration for his staff one of my previous lab mgrs had all the blood bank staff assigned to the same pay scale as the pharmacists - pretty ingenious I thought.

We took it back after it was issued to a man as 'he was the problem'

don't you have AABB QP?  I would think that should suffice since it is for your blood bank . . .

We transport in validated boxes with cool packs that have been stored at room temperatre, in a temperature contolled room, for 48 hours.
 
Where I previously worked we used data loggers but in the UK validated boxes are considered acceptable.

Does the supplier use his own transport container which should be validate?   If that is true I would think that you would not have to worry about temp.
 
Taking temp of the product tells only what the temp is  now.   It could have been out of range during some part of the trip.   

Yes, we take the temp. We are using a digital thermometer with a probe - make a sandwich of the probe with the platelet unit or units, leave in shipping box as it was packed until you get your reading.
 
Yes, we have to have the thermometer calibrated yearly (Biomed takes care of that for us). If you use a cheap digital thermometer, just buy a new one every year - that may be more cost effective than recalibration.
 
Our blood supplier actually temps blood products with a spirit thermometer (with calibration certificate)- which surprised me when I heard that - so you really don't have to have a digital. We use the digital because it's more convenient and we use it for other things.

We use Temp Check
https://www.hampshirecontrols.com/rapid-response-temperature-verification-system.htm
 
You will have to annually calibrate it with a certified thermometer.
 
P.S.  Don't ever apologize for asking questions.  We love helping the newbies here!

I always hand write it with a line OVER the letter -but that doesn't mean I am right.

That fits me very closely, though I don't routinely work weekends anymore. I do fill in on weekends for vacations, maternity leave, etc and am always on the bench when I do.

there are three main reasons why this can happen:
1.  antibody against a low frequency antigen present on the screening cell but not on the panel
2.  Temperature difference between the screen and the panel.  Main culprit here is anti-M
3.  contamination
 
Are there lots of screens positive with this cell?  Yes, all in a batch - cell contaminated
                                                                             No, only this one, but neg on repeat - either 2 or 3
                                                                             Some - either 1 or 2
You can repeat the panel in IAT (I presume we are talking about an IAT technique here) at RT.  If it's an anti-M it will come out more strongly
If it's an anti-LFA then finding blood that is XM-compatible won't be a problem