SantaFe Jane

bbkdiane, Your answer is awesome and a tour de force on the subject!!!!!! Inservice, inservice, inservice and accountablility IS the answer. You've answered my question. My lab director just thinks I'm too much of a bb fanatic and am not living in the real world. I hope this makes HER more realistic. Thank you very much.

Should a tech be dismissed immediately for missing an anti-Kell on patient's record (titer is low and ab screen is negative, units not Kell typed and coombs crossmatches not performed. Both units were transfused. Tech works 3rd shift and director believes that should he go, scheduling becomes a nightmare)?

korchek, I think this is the right alternative. Scan the bar code, preferably the one from admitting, and get labels for the BB specimen. THank you.

John, It's good to hear your confirmation of Biologics and your idea of scissor proof bands is excellent! I fear that my lab director (she is not a blood banker, she is an administrator) has her mind made up and is convinced that it's OK to blindly accept the DOB, MRN and name as the bottom line in patient identification. Seems benign enough in theory, but if you go just with the hospital armband as the means of labeling a blood bank clot, then I fear that there is a greater probablility for a sample to be labeled away from the bedside. Going directly to the band and printing a label ATTACHED to the patient has more safety built into the system. I hope I can persuade, but I am a solo anal BBer here. Yes, educating staff and relearning is paramount for any system.

Jane, This is true. Nurses with scissors--look out. Thank you.

My lab director wants to do away with a unique bb armband altogether (who wouldn't when it's the crappy Securline), a notion that apparently has worked for many facilities, but one I've had no experience with. The biggest advantage I see with the Biologics method, where the 5 digit number is embossed on a card and new labels are printed directly at the patient's bedside, is that labeling the specimen AT THE PATIENT'S BEDSIDE is built into the system. It forces the nurses (not so much trained phlebotomists) to realize that the number they are putting on the specimen is really from this patient. Another alternative I would argue for is where a phleb or nurse would obtain a label, for a bb clot, after scanning the hospital id band bar code, at the patient's bedside. Can anyone give me your arguments for doing away with unique bb id numbers/armbands? What are the advantages?

Mary, My take on that question is that a legitimate "mechanical" method is the use of a separate bb armband. Monitoring the process would be having a system in place that will allow others to notify a supervisor when a mislabeling incident occurs. A method I'm familiar with is one where we filled out "Problem Identification Reports" which our supervisor kept in a file to prove that the issue was being monitored. Written in our labeling procedure was the part about how and when phlebotomists were trained. THe new HCLL software from Mediware allows tracking right at the screen when a specimen is marked as collected. THis becomes a great reporting tool for an inspector who can pull up a history of mislabeled specimens. Hope that helps.

Thanks, David. Yes, HCLL.

Is anyone using the newest upgrade of Hemocare, now Windows-based? If so, care to comment?