TreeMoss
Content Type
Store
Profiles
Forums
Blogs
Events
Frequently Asked Questions
Gallery
Downloads
Glossary
Links Directory
Questions
Jobs
Vendors
Everything posted by TreeMoss
-
We have always resulted the antibody ID as anti-D with a comment added that it is probably due to RhIG given on a certain date. The RhIG in our facility is now issued by the Pharmacy, so we have been adding comments to patients' histories to indicate that the RhIG was given. Now that we are doing Electronic Crossmatches, I'm not sure how to designate the anti-D from RhIG so that the LIS will allow us to do Electronic Crossmatches on those patients. Any ideas?
-
At a recent trauma department meeting, one of the trauma surgeons mentioned something about "rapid plasma thawers being available". We currently use a Helmer 8 place thawer that will thaw an average FFP unit in 14-18 minutes. Are there thawers that will thaw a unit of FFP in 5 minutes or less? Interested to have you share any information.
-
We use the pink top K3 EDTA tubes, spin down, and separate off the plasma into a separate tube in case additional crossmatches are ordered on the specimen. We wash our packed cells to make the suspension for testing.
-
Gel antibody panel and tube antibody panels
TreeMoss replied to amym1586's topic in Transfusion Services
We stock one gel panel and one tube panel. Most of our testing in done in gel, but we have the tube panel to fall back on if necessary -- plus it gives us some more cells to use for rule/out cells when needed. We have not found success when trying to do pre-warmed testing in the gel system, so we'll use our tube screening and panel cells for that purpose. As we know, all is not clear cut when it comes to blood banking! -
Our current procedures for blood type (and anything including that) state that we need to do a patient re-type if there is no blood type history on the patient. We will just do a forward type on the current specimen. We are going to be setting up electronic crossmatch (soon, I hope) and will be required to test a specimen collected at a separate time for the re-type. I am seeking input on how you folks handle your patient re-types. We are also currently doing the re-type on every specimen -- including cord workups. We know that when we start the electronic crossmatches, we will not be getting a separate specimen on those babies for the retype. What do you do for traumas, pre-ops who come in a few days before surgery and only blood bank ordered, etc. Because we have been testing the same specimen for our retype, it adds on to that original requisition. I will have to change the retype to make a new requisition. Any suggestions will be appreciated.
-
One time you would use two A2 cells would be when you are cross-checking your reagent -- use the old lot of cells and also test against the new lot of cells as well as the negative control cells to verify that nothing happened to the reagent in shipping, etc.
-
Isn't it interesting how the simplest things can thrill us so much? The Velcro idea is really something you can get stuck on!
-
Medical Director Evaluation of Transfusion Reactions
TreeMoss replied to jsand's topic in Transfusion Services
We have 24 hours for pathologist review in our Transfusion Reaction workup procedure. When we have our FDA inspections, they look at all of the reactions since the last inspections -- and they had best all be reviewed by 24 hours! -
We make our own QC using the Ortho reagents, so we dilute up the anti-D and anti-c for use in tube and gel methods. The aliquots are stored in our freezer. The tube method is just a 1:50 dilution of anti-c, and we dilute that and the anti-D up further for use when QCing the gel card/reagents. We have done this forever (it seems) and have never purchased the QC reagents. It works really well.
-
I've thought about checking into this recently for use with our MTPs. We do not keep thawed FFP available -- too much wastage, but I think having liquid plasma on hand would help stop the bleeding quicker, thus helping the patient sooner. I don't know anything about price or shelf life yet, but I'm going to approach our supplier. Nice to know that you use Meditech, jjspees01. I may need your expertise in getting information entered!
-
Thanks go out to you and your staff -- thank you for being prepared to handle this situation. So often the lab folks don't even get recognized for our contributions in these tense situations. There is nothing quite like that old adrenaline rush to help accomplish what needs to be done! I am sorry that your community had to experience this sad event, and I pray that healing will happen as quickly as possible. Pat each other on the back for "taking care of business".
-
Our cord blood specimens are labeled with the mother's wristband label (MobiLab) and a Cord Blood sticker, so we don't have the identifiers we would need. We also did a study and found that the majority of cord blood specimens are not labeled right at the time they are collected. For those reasons, we do not use them for type & screen or crossmatch purposes. NICU nurses have recently been collecting specimens from the baby side of the placenta for genetic studies and crossmatching. These specimens are labeled with a MobiLab lab made from the baby's ID band at the time of specimen collection. As per the literature, these specimens are okay to use for Blood Bank purposes. They only collect these on single births, no twins or triplets, etc. Our neonatalogists understand what we require for crossmatching. If they need blood products prior to Blood Bank receiving a specimen, they request Uncrossmatched blood.
-
We use the in vivo crossmatch procedure when transfusing least-incompatible packed cells to patients with WAIHA. This is documented using our Emergency Release form that also includes sections for Uncrossmatched PCs, units given before testing is finished (by our blood supplier), and changing a patient from Rh negative products to Rh positive products. Our facility uses Bar Code enabled Transfusion Administration, so when nursing stops the transfusion prior to drawing the EDTA specimen for blood bank to examine, they can note the reason for stopping and the reason for continuing the transfusion. This works well for us.
