Samples during collection

[Cliff]

We collect pre-admission samples from our autologous donors. We will be stopping this soon as it is not the business of the donor center to collect patient samples.

I had a question though. Some of these patients / donors have a significant amount collected for their samples. We deduct this amount from the WB we collect to ensure patient safety.

Recently we had a talk about this. Do other people worry about what their donors may have or will have collected on the day of donation as patient samples? If so, how do you manage this?

Thanks.

[L106]

We are a hospital that collects only a few autologous donor units a month. We collect 450 ml of blood for a unit and we perform minimal testing on these donor units, so we don't collect extra pilot tubes from the autologous donor. There must be at least one week (preferably, two weeks) between the individual's last donation and their surgery. Most pre-admission samples (ie: CBC, etc.) is usually done a week before surgery, so this is not a serious concern for us.

[Malcolm Needs ☆]

With the move towards lower haemoglobin levels before transfusion (except in the case of cardiac patients), I doubt if the amount taken for testing would really harm the patient.