Compliance with refrigerators

[jlemmons]

We are dead ending at our facility. We have three refrigerators and a freezer. One refrigerator holds reagents and specimens. The circuit board on the alarm system went out about six months ago. They no longer make them so we need a new refrigerator. Administration is dragging their feet. We have a second refrigerator that holds our autologous and crossmatched blood. It alarms only in the blood bank but our third shift can not hear it if they are not in the blood bank as the remote alarm is broken and again, we are getting no where on getting it fixed. We do have one good refrigerator that alarms when it should and in the places it should. Our freezer keeps going out, necessitating us taking the plasma out of it and putting some of the plasma in microbiology (across the lab) and getting boxes with dry ice from Red Cross until they can get someone out to fix it. A lot of the problem with the freezer appears to be that it is located too close to the refrigerator and the ProVue and does not circulate enough air around it to keep it going. My supervisor has gone so far as to ask our last AABB inspector if she could reinspect us so that the Administration would know that this has to change. Any suggestions?

[Lcsmrz]

You are not alone! Many facilities are located in old parts of old buildings and have old equipment, making for very few options. Money is generally very tight all over ...

Documentation is the only potential solution, converting all problems to a dollar amount -- the language of administration! There is a cost of moving inventory, taking additional temperatures, servicing, potential loss of expensive products, etc. The cost of the status quo frequently exceeds the cost of a new refrigerator & alarm system.

Just stating "compliance problem" is no longer enough to loosen the purse strings. I have had sites request that I cite them for ongoing space and equipment constraints, as an additional leverage tool.

I start requesting new equipment as they approaches their end of useful life, and usually get it replaced before they die completely.

[krichards]

I agree! The best way to get your administration to approve any expense is to prove to them that the expense will actually save them money.

I know it's a real pain, but you need to sit down and figure out how much you are spending in tech time, dry ice, lost products. Calculate your actual expenses, as well as potential expenses. Put the right spin on things, and you can make the potential expenses seem so large that your request for funds seems small by comparison.

Another thing I've found highly effective is to mention patient safety as often as possible. Our administration, like most, is highly supportive of anything required to maintain patient safety. Potentially compromised or unavailable products definitely falls into that category!

If you can combine both money and safety, then I am sure you will succeed. Also, be sure to submit documentation to back up your request, even if it is not required. This way, you can highlight how detrimental the current situation is.

Good luck!