Bedside use of leukocyte filters

[LCoronado]

We occasionally issue a leukocyte filter with a unit of packed cells, per physician request. We currently stock the Fenwal Sepacell filter for single units. Nurses complain that they have a great deal of difficulty getting the red cells started, at the point where they have to prime the filter. We had two incidents where the entire unit of blood ended up on the floor, the bedding, the nurse and the patient; we also had a close call last week, where part of the unit was lost. No one in our laboratory has been trained in the intricacies of actually hanging blood, but somehow it seems that nursing is looking toward me to help them to alleviate these difficulties. Does anyone out there have any words of wisdom or insight into the process of using these filters? Or, does anyone know of another brand of filter which is easier to use? Advice would be greatly appreciated! Thank you!

[Likewine99]

Call the vendor and explain your problem. Ask them to come out and give the nsg staff an inservice on how to use them.

Tell them you may have to look at another vendor since their product is not working well and you are losing $$$ when units are wasted.

[LCoronado]

I am trying to get help from the vendor in the form of inservices and/or educational materials. Thanks for your help.

[mhc]

Another solution might be to get pre-storage leukoreduced units from your blood supplier. They are QC'd for WBC content and you can be assured that a patient who needs LR blood is actually getting it.

[LCoronado]

Yes that's a good point, but our supplier does not stock many LR units and we sometimes have no notice that leukoreduction will be required. For now, we really need to get the nurses proficient at operating the bedside filters.

[richardsonj]

Hi. We use Pall EZ Prime filters. They are self priming high efficiency leukocyte reduction filter sets for single blood transfusions. Our nurses do not seem to have any issues with them. The directions are included in every filter and we have not had one complaint or problem. Hope this helps. Good luck!

[Sara B]

Hi from Iowa. We also use the Pall EZ prime filters and have had very good luck. We've used Pall filters with every transfusion since before I started at our critical access hospital. As of this month, we have switched to pre-storage LR units. We are one of the last hospitals in our area to switch to pre-storage LR units.