Just For Fun

[L106]

I have not heard of color-coding the patient's record cards (back in the old days) based on their blood types. That was a great idea (and another little "safety check".)

Now, see, if Blood Bank Talk had existed by then, we could have shared that neat little trick!

[NekkoWafer]

yep, that color code is correct. That's what we used at the hospital I worked at this last year. The files were very pretty after a while, and when going after a specific patient you were familiar with you'd know what color to look for. It made things a little easier to find, but then had to deal with all the misfiles. They had gone paperless a couple weeks before I left the hospital this December though.

[huntilla]

Okay here are mine:

1. Well if I drew the CBC in the wrong tube and it was red, could you just pour it into the purple one now? Nurse

2. ...Now take this syringe and go draw the patient through the heart muscle, oh it's okay he is already dead he won't feel a thing! ER physician....

I have been asked to draw through the heart on a post-mortem as well, I had to defer that to the physician in one instance and in another I actually drew with guidance from a medical examiner.

[LAS]

OMG! That reminds me of once long ago I was called to the E.D. for a draw. The patient had been hit by a train and was just a mess - deceased of course. I was advised to draw a blood alcohol from the heart. An EMT was there who had just had a class in drawing from the heart post-mortem and couldn't wait to jump in. With the physician's approval, she jumped in all right - with a giant syringe, a needle unlike anything I had ever seen before, and just jabbed in and out over and over until she finally "found" something. Gruesome!

[lateonenite]

I used to enucleate for the eye bank (deceased donors, obviously) and used to hate doing those collections - not just for the collections themselves but the sometimes gungy blood you'd get out of them with fat globules in them.....now we group for cadavers here and I'm always reminded of those days.....

[lateonenite]

One of ours for new staff members was sending them down to stores for a box of fallopian tubes.

:eek::redface::eek:

Did you keep the staff members who looked at you and said "Awww, you guys ...."?

[Malcolm Needs ☆]

Did you keep the staff members who looked at you and said "Awww, you guys ...."?

Yep! They were the good ones. It was the ones that were stupid enough to actually go and try and get them about whom we were suspicious (nevertheless, as one of these [somehow] I've still got a job)!!!!!!!

:D:D:D:D:D:D:D

[NekkoWafer]

I heard a good one from one of my new coworkers. She used to be a pct in the ER at one of the hospitals in town. There was some horrible accident and they brought a decapitated corpse into the ER (they still couldn't find the head after the accident, I can't remember what she said had happened). A nurse called her over to get help placing an IV line. The nurse said something to the effect of "I'm having a hard time getting a flash, think you can help me out?". She responded with "have you looked at your patient?", apparently the nurse didn't even notice...how sad is that.

[jeanne.wall]

OMG! That reminds me of once long ago I was called to the E.D. for a draw. The patient had been hit by a train and was just a mess - deceased of course. I was advised to draw a blood alcohol from the heart. An EMT was there who had just had a class in drawing from the heart post-mortem and couldn't wait to jump in. With the physician's approval, she jumped in all right - with a giant syringe, a needle unlike anything I had ever seen before, and just jabbed in and out over and over until she finally "found" something. Gruesome!

I had a STAT in the ER one morning, with a request for an EKG. I arrive on the scene to find a patient that had died of alcohol poisoning the night before - in a taxi on the way home. The driver didn't "recognize" that his fare had died. Just took his money out of the guy's pocket and pushed the guy out of the back seat into the snow and below 0 temperatures. So I'm faced with a guy with rigger that is frozen pretty much solid. I'm not sure what anyone thought the EKG would show. I went out and told them that the patient wouldn’t “relax†– the nurse was miffed because she needed the tracing. She never could say way that was critical to the diagnosis.

[jcdayaz]

I heard a good one from one of my new coworkers. She used to be a pct in the ER at one of the hospitals in town. There was some horrible accident and they brought a decapitated corpse into the ER (they still couldn't find the head after the accident, I can't remember what she said had happened). A nurse called her over to get help placing an IV line. The nurse said something to the effect of "I'm having a hard time getting a flash, think you can help me out?". She responded with "have you looked at your patient?", apparently the nurse didn't even notice...how sad is that.

DON'T EVEN GET ME STARTED ON NURSES!!!!! As you well know, there are a mere handful of good ones....that's it!! How can a person, nurse--janitor--cafeteria worker--whatever...not notice a MISSING HEAD???

[NekkoWafer]

that's what I was thinking

[Fizzbin]

Speaking of doctors lacking education (and common sense), we have an anesthesiologist who will draw blood bank specimens (and hemo, chem and coag specimens) directly above an IV. He's done it multiple times, we/ve explained multiple times why that's a really bad idea and the next time he has a patient going south fast - he does it again. We generally catch it cause the patient seems to have a 2.3 Hbg. Education isn't working well here. I'm thinking a big thump on his noggin might get us equally good results.

One time I went into a patient's room to draw a patient who had more missed sticks than not. The resident physician followed me in, wanting to know why we had such a hard time getting her blood.

I explained that we were barred from using one arm because she had a mastectomy, and that she had a running IV in her other hand and we couldn't draw above the IV. With a shrug of his shoulder, the resident asked what difference drawing above a running IV made. He was serious. I had to explain the issues to him.

And to think this guy was prescribing medication, too.

[M_Allan]

Not that I want to scare people, but it is always interesting to find out, what is found during inspection.

Here are two horror stories.

First time, looking at a stone-age fridge with the brand "blood-bank", I asked one of the

staff, if they are using this fridge to slowly de-frost their units ??!!

She answered, but…it shows + 4ºC on the monitoring system, so what do you mean with

de-frosting?

Yes, when we checked the temperature close to the monitoring probe, it was close to that temperature, but the bottom half of the fridge was -4ºC.

Here it shows again, how important it is to, at least when the fridge is installed it should

be mapped, and shame on the company that installed the probe.:mad:

Another one:

Freezer -20ºC, so full of urine samples, that the door was taped shut with Duck-tape, to keep

it closed.

At the same time, this company was in the process of installing a monitoring system, but was not set to alarm yet.

Two days in the process, I looked at some graphs, and noticed that this freezer was running

on +10 to +15 for the last two nights. During the day it was within the limits.

What happened

At night, because of the high temperature in the room, the tape loosened, and the door popped open.

In the morning when "a Lady" got a badge of samples out of the freezer, she re-attached the tape. ???!!!

Do I need to say more

Do you like more of these stories…….just ask…….and have fun.

Marc

[jeanne.wall]

Not that I want to scare people, but it is always interesting to find out, what is found during inspection.

Here are two horror stories.

Not so much a horror story - Back in the day when inspectors wanted to watch you "set off the refrigerator alarms" I had a little problem. I'd just assured the inspector that we had a remote alarm system and the covering staff were very good at responding. I then set about setting off the alarm, it rang in the Blood Bank, but no response from the switch board (our remote 24 hour coverage). We waited and waited, to the point where I was giving up but excused myself to get some ice to set off the low alarm. I left the blood bank and there in the hall, two secretaries and a security guard whispering to me that the alarm was going off but they didn't want the inspector to know! We marched right in to tell the inspector what was going on, but I learned to make sure that when an inspection was occurring that staff knew they needed to report the alarm.

[M_Allan]

Jeanne,

That is a wonderfull story.... and OOO so typical.

It happens to me during PQ's all the time, but

This also shows, that the alarming should go off in the section where

the fridge is.

If a fridge in the Blood dispensing unit goes in alarm, it should alarm or phone in that area first, and

not in the Lab, for example.

I love the game, setting of an alarm, and wait, for somebody to show up....if at all.

Thanks, Marc

[RR1]

Do you like more of these stories…….just ask…….and have fun.

Marc

Hi Marc...I like your stories a lot- very educational, please keep them coming!!

[bxcall1]

Two stories come to mind

1. A really b..... nurse was going to ' wait in the lab until her STAT urine culture was done!'

2. How long do I collect a 24 hr urine for????

[jcdayaz]

Two stories come to mind

1. A really b..... nurse was going to ' wait in the lab until her STAT urine culture was done!'

2. How long do I collect a 24 hr urine for????

HaHaHaHa!!!!! You gotta love the STAT CULTURES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!:D:D:D

[dcubed]

Got a couple:

Fisrt, back when I worked as a generalist, was reading blood gas result to a ward clerk and she wanted to know how to spell pH.

Second, a couple of year ago a resident was worried that it would take to long to get antigen negative blood for his patient (don't recall the antibodies but we did have to special order units from supplier). The resident suggested that we just get washed blood since that "washes the antigens of the red cells"!

[jcdayaz]

Wouldn't it be nice to actually be able to "wash the antigens off the cells??"!!!

That would certainly save us ALL a lot of time. Of course it seems to me that ability (if it were actually factual...which we all know it is not) could potentially turn blood banking into something mundane like Chemistry....UUUGGGHHHH.

[jcdayaz]

2. How long do I collect a 24 hr urine for????

You just have to love these questions.

I got a good one the other day....a phone call from a nurse, RN no doubt, asking how to collect a specimen for blood bank testing. I explained the armband procedure, what needed to be written on it, how that armband was to be affixed to the tube, etc etc. She was obviously still puzzled after my explanation. She then said "Yeah, I know about the armband stuff, but how do I draw it?" I had to tell her the same way she collects blood for any other test!!!

Is there a different way to draw blood of which I am unaware????

[Malcolm Needs ☆]

You just have to love these questions.

I got a good one the other day....a phone call from a nurse, RN no doubt, asking how to collect a specimen for blood bank testing. I explained the armband procedure, what needed to be written on it, how that armband was to be affixed to the tube, etc etc. She was obviously still puzzled after my explanation. She then said "Yeah, I know about the armband stuff, but how do I draw it?" I had to tell her the same way she collects blood for any other test!!!

Is there a different way to draw blood of which I am unaware????

Perhaps she thought she had to use different coloured crayons for drawing this specimen!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Worrying isn't it?

:bonk:

[jcdayaz]

Perhaps she thought she had to use different coloured crayons for drawing this specimen!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Worrying isn't it?

:bonk:

Tee Hee! You are, unfortunately, probably correct!! Perhaps I should take a box of crayons to work!! UUUGGHHH!

It is a wonder that ANY patient actually makes it out of the hospital...I have always told everyone I know that if they have a loved-one in the hospital for any reason to make sure someone is there with them 24/7 to verify EVERYTHING being done....IV solutions, medications, etc etc. It is a crying shame to be so paranoid, I know, but I have have seen so much stupidity that I guess it has warped me!

As a matter of fact, I just was reminded of my first HORROR STORY!!! When I was a brand new Tech out of college, I got a night-shift job at a fairly small hospital...around 250 beds. I made friends with a lot of the other staff. One nurse friend of mine called me in the lab one night and said "I just hung some saline on a patient of mine. They are no longer acting right. What should I do?" After I picked myself up off the floor, I told her to immediately stop whatever it was she was infusing. I then went to the patient's room and found that she had not hung saline...she had hung a huge bag of POTASSIUM!!!! Needless to say she was no longer affiliated with the hospital and we were no longer friends. SCARY, TO SAY THE LEAST!!!!!!

[MAGNUM]

Had one just yesterday, patient seen in the ED with warfarin toxicity and GI bleed. Patient family informed the ED staff that she had history of antibodies. Patient transferred to the floor, where she continued to go down, her Hgb got to 4.1. Her admitting wanted blood (which she did need) and needed it now. So he called to inform me that he wanted to give the patient 3 units of blood and to get him 3 O negs ready since the O negs dont have any antigens present. Long and short he got 2 B Pos and 1 B neg. The patient it turns out has a C,E,D,Lea,Fya, and Jkb. Of course he signed for them.

[Malcolm Needs ☆]

Had one just yesterday, patient seen in the ED with warfarin toxicity and GI bleed. Patient family informed the ED staff that she had history of antibodies. Patient transferred to the floor, where she continued to go down, her Hgb got to 4.1. Her admitting wanted blood (which she did need) and needed it now. So he called to inform me that he wanted to give the patient 3 units of blood and to get him 3 O negs ready since the O negs dont have any antigens present. Long and short he got 2 B Pos and 1 B neg. The patient it turns out has a C,E,D,Lea,Fya, and Jkb. Of course he signed for them.

Ouch!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

:(:(