Page 19 of the US Industry Consensus Standard refers to the "mandatory use of V for all blood components collected from volunteer donors". I know at one point the designations were V, A, and D. At some point those designations were changed (?) to 0, 1, and 2 respectively. I was under the impression they were interchangable, i.e. V = 0.

My reasoning was affirmed by the Hema-Trax software which default to "Not Specified" or "0". I did find out how to change that default to "V" but we never did anything.

Now I am thoroughly confused. Are "V" and "0" interchangeable or do we HAVE to use "V" as indicated in the Standard?

Thanks,

Laura

It is my understanding that the Intended use code "0" is not being used in the United States. This has been an issue with HemaTrax for those who use the Stand Alone printer software. The default is "0" and you have to remember to change to V. The ABO/Rh barcode is the same for both non-specified and Volunteer, so either will work.

Hi,

Thanks for the reply. Does anyone have some sort of documentation they can share regarding this? We have not seen that the "0" was not being used in the US.

I did receive the directions on how to change the default in the Hema-Trax stand-alone to "V" (so it doesn't have to be changed every time), from Digi-Trax.

Laura

How do you change the default to "V"?

I figured out how to make it default to "V" but it only works for full-face and the facility/product label, You still have to select the "V" for the product and the product/expiration labels but at least the "V" is at the top of the dropdown list. I spoke to someone at Digi-trax and what I did was the fix they recommend. They were not aware that it did not work for all the label types but confirmed what I found. They are going to send it back to the programmer.

Please share the fix to change the default to "V." I would love to change that.

DHarts...I sent you a Private Message.

Here is the documentation from the ICCBBA U.S. specific FAQ section:

6. Am I required to specify in the ISBT 128 product code data structure (data structure 003) whether the unit is autologous, directed, or designated?

Autologous donations are required to be coded in the product code. Directed or designated units are not required to be coded in the product code. Although it is not mandatory to code directed, or designated units in the product code data structure (data structure 003), it may be in the facility’s best interest to do so for billing purposes. It is also required in the product code data structure is to specify the type of donation (volunteer or paid); FDA does not permit the default value of “0†(not specified) to appear on transfusable products, except for on Recovered Plasma and Source Plasma units.

We will be using the value "0" for products that are in-process. Once the donor and the unit records are complete, our computer system will determine the correct value based on the donation type. Volunteer and Directed (crossover OK) units will be designated with the V, allowing either ourselves (patient had more donors than required) or the hospital (patient had more units available than needed) to cross over the units when appropriate.