Transfusions Occurring While Patient is in Transit

[jch]

At our facility we are in the process of writing a procedure which addresses the issue of shipment of blood products to an outside facility. In trauma situations, a patient may need to be moved from our ED to another hospital while undergoing a transfusion of one or more units. I'm looking for ways in which other Blood Banks address this in terms of record keeping. If we issue units and pack them appropriately, how will we know when the transfusion started, when it was completed, if there was a reaction, etc. Do we just depend on the other facility's personnel to fill out the forms correctly? Any ideas would be appreciated.

[LaraT23]

In our facility, I ask that the nurses make a copy of our transfusion form and send it with the transferring service along with our fax number. I then call on all transfers ( we are not that big) and check with the ambulance service and receiving facility. Of course if there are units still in a cooler that have not been started, the receiving facility cannot accept them. It is just too much of an issue. So, there is my process in a nutshell. I really wish it never happened, I have spent as much as a month tracking down the final disposition of units in these situations.

[adiescast]

We call the receiving facilities to get the final disposition. We have very few transfers, so it hasn't been a big problem.

[Antrita]

When I was reading other hospitals policies for Massive Transfusion I fould a few large trauma centers would take units that were sent with patiients if they could document the units were stored properly. This doesn't happen very often, but when it does, I do the following: 1. I use shipment boxes from my supplier that have been temp checked. 2. I pack with wet ice. 3 I put HemoTemp labels on the backs of the units. and 4. I have an Issue/ transfer form signed by the ER doctor stating the units are to be transfused during transport. My thought was to let the receiving hospital decide if they want to use any remaining units. I wouldn't use them but we aren't a trauma center and it is very rare that we are short of packed cells. I guess I also feel bad sending units to a trash can at the next hospital.

Antrita