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AABB Accreditation


butlermom

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My hospital blood bank has only been in existence for approximately 11 and a half years. I have been the only supervisor for 11 of those years. During this time we have grown so much so fast, that it has been all I could do to keep up and stay ahead of inventory, procedures, staff training, competencies, teaching students, all while moving 3 times, designing and implementing the blood bank section of our LIS, bringing in and validating two generations of automation (8 years apart), and working the bench when needed.  We are a CAP accredited laboratory and it has always been my desire for my blood bank to eventually become AABB accredited. Other than the prestige that it would bring, how might I justify the cost to my administration of the benefits of becoming AABB accredited? Even though we have the latest and greatest tools in our lab, I need to be able to explain why spending $$$ dollars on a voluntary program is a good thing. 

Thanks in advance to those of you who are AABB accredited and can advise me!

Kathryn

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It used to be that AABB accreditation meant you achieved a level of sophistication encompassing Quality System Essentials.  Today, I am not certain that is the case.   CAP has deemed status and has upgraded their standards to be at least as stringent as AABB's (some are even more so).   Probably the only selling point are the CE materials and the national meeting every year.  Hospitals I have worked in have all been AABB accredited.  My current employer, we dropped AABB about 15 years ago because there wasn't any bang for the buck to be accredited by them.  This was my decision - was an AABB member and assessor/inspector for 20+ yrs.

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Years ago we discussed dropping out of AABB but the corporate Transfusion Service medical director could not let it go.  She had no rational argument for maintaining the accreditation while still having CAP and JCHO.  She just could not part with what she perceived as a great status symbol.  Then in the next breath she would declare how much we needed to reduce our budgets.  It didn't make much sense to me.  :confuse:

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I take the opposite view as I feel that AABB still adds that higher level of quality and safety needed for Blood Banks and Transfusion Services.  I agree that CAP has changed over the last couple years and is more in alignment with the AABB standards, but the emphasis on Quality and tying that all together is not the same. 

The other points to mention are the training requirement differences and the depth of the inspection.  CAP recommends their on-line training be taken prior to inspecting, but does not mandate or have CE requirements included for inspectors.  AABB does have a monitored assessor program with mandated CE hours in specific categories as well as required training sessions.

The CAP team will be in your facility for just about a half day.  AABB/CAP combined inspection will be mostly likely a day and a half to thoroughly go through all 4 checklists.   Do you view an inspection as a necessary pita, "just something to get through....." and want the inspector in and out as quickly as possible,  or do you really wish to have outside eyes perform a in depth look at your processes to ensure that you are providing the highest level of patient care and service?  My whole career has been in BBTS and I never forget that what we do has the potential to be quickly fatal more so than any other section of the lab and therefore I feel needs that '"extra" review.

 

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6 hours ago, SMILLER said:

In the US, all accrediting agencies must satisfy CLIA, and Blood Bank regs are based on AABB standards.  So AABB standards are already in use by JCAHO, CAP, etc.

Scott

However, none of those agencies state that the facility must follow AABB Standards nor do they mention them during an inspection.  Only AABB inspectors can cite for non-compliance with an AABB standard.

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On 3/5/2019 at 6:33 PM, Dansket said:

However, none of those agencies state that the facility must follow AABB Standards nor do they mention them during an inspection.  Only AABB inspectors can cite for non-compliance with an AABB standard.

Right, and I would not even go so far as to say that a CAP or JCAHO inspection is equivalent (as far as how stringent it is) compared to an AABB injspection.  Just that any CLIA accredited agencies are going to be using standards that are derived from AABB guidelines.  In fact, the FDA does some extra stuff beyond AABB for things like tissue tracking.

Scott

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A number of years ago the President made a visit to our area.  His advance team visited our hospital and the blood bank.  They asked if we were AABB accredited which we regrettably answered no.  We are accredited by the Joint Commission   Consequently our blood bank was told we could not provide blood product in the event of a medical emergency!    

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2 hours ago, Johnv said:

A number of years ago the President made a visit to our area.  His advance team visited our hospital and the blood bank.  They asked if we were AABB accredited which we regrettably answered no.  We are accredited by the Joint Commission   Consequently our blood bank was told we could not provide blood product in the event of a medical emergency!    

what the heck does that mean?   

 

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  • 6 months later...

Does anyone reading this thread know of blood banks who are AABB accredited but not CAP?  We are accredited by both at present, and I don't want to turn loose of the AABB prestige.  My Lab Director is still looking for ways to cut costs.  Does it make sense to have AABB accreditation without CAP?

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We are AABB and Cap also and Joint commission pay us a visit when the inspect our hospital.  

AABB standards are highly respected by DRs and RNs when needed so it's good tool to have them follow the rules. In Addition  the administration still consider AABB prestige have to have.

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On ‎9‎/‎17‎/‎2019 at 8:25 AM, mawyant said:

Does anyone reading this thread know of blood banks who are AABB accredited but not CAP?  We are accredited by both at present, and I don't want to turn loose of the AABB prestige.  My Lab Director is still looking for ways to cut costs.  Does it make sense to have AABB accreditation without CAP?

It seems like you are suggesting that CAP inspect your lab for all departments except BB, which you would have done by AABB?  Is this even possible?  Can you be selective about what CAP looks at?

Under CLIA, regulations for all areas in the Lab are pretty stringent, whether AABB, CAP, JCAHO or FDA.  If  you want the extras ('prestige'?) that come with paying the AABB for another inspection, then I guess it's worth it.

Scott

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On 9/17/2019 at 7:25 AM, mawyant said:

Does anyone reading this thread know of blood banks who are AABB accredited but not CAP?  We are accredited by both at present, and I don't want to turn loose of the AABB prestige.  My Lab Director is still looking for ways to cut costs.  Does it make sense to have AABB accreditation without CAP?

We are AABB accredited but not CAP.  Our hospital is accredited by HFAP, as is our lab.  Our HFAP inspection falls 3 to 6 months prior to our AABB inspection, and the AABB one is the same quarter as the new Standards become effective.  This makes it rather challenging to prepare for both.

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On ‎09‎/‎17‎/‎2019 at 8:25 AM, mawyant said:

Does anyone reading this thread know of blood banks who are AABB accredited but not CAP?  We are accredited by both at present, and I don't want to turn loose of the AABB prestige.  My Lab Director is still looking for ways to cut costs.  Does it make sense to have AABB accreditation without CAP?

I know of blood banks who have been AABB Assessed and NOT have had to have a CAP blood bank inspection.  Both are CLIA deemed status.  No need to have both (for Blood Bank). 

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One of our neighboring facilities is inspected by Joint Commission and AABB. No CAP.

We are CAP inspected and Joint Commission is perfectly happy with that. They look at a small number of very specific things in our lab - how we handle our bone/tissue implants and how pathology handles surgical specimens and biopsies.

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  • 3 weeks later...

We are AABB, TJC, and FDA.  Also DPH for our irradiators. Our pathology chair wants to switch from TJC to CAP, but that will likely be years away.  If we do, we will maintain both AABB and CAP.  I will advocate to not have a joint assessment.  I'd prefer to have them come at different times to help us be ready all of the time. 

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On 2/27/2019 at 12:31 AM, butlermom said:

Other than the prestige that it would bring, how might I justify the cost to my administration of the benefits of becoming AABB accredited? Even though we have the latest and greatest tools in our lab, I need to be able to explain why spending $$$ dollars on a voluntary program is a good thing. 

One reason (maybe) is that if you are AABB accredited the Reference lab you use MAY change what they are required to reprove from the results you provide, which would reduce cost. 

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