Incomplete WB collections

[Cliff]

If you attempt to collect a WB donor and do not collect the whole unit, how long do you defer the donor for?

Is it a tiered deferral based on how much they lost?

For example, if you intended to collect 450 ml of WB, but only collected 100 ml of WB, would you defer the donor for 8 weeks still?

[Malcolm Needs ☆]

This has nothing to do with answering your question Cliff (sorry), but as an aside, it really annoys me when we have arranged for one of our rare donors to donate (say, a Kp[a+b-]), and the session takes less than the acceptable volume.

Instead of offering this short unit for use as rare reagent red cells, so that it will be of some use, the short unit almost always gets totally discarded, even though the donor is made aware that the unit my be used for reagent purposes before donation.

The worst case I came across was a Jk(a-b-) that went down the Swanee.

:rage::rage:

[Marilyn Plett]

Rare donors are "flagged" in our computer system. Every morning we print a report which lists the rare "flagged" donors/phenotypes which were collected the previous day. On a couple of occasions, we've spotted a rare unit and retrieved it for just that purpose. Without the report, these would have been lost.

[Malcolm Needs ☆]

I agree Marilyn; ours are flagged too.

We often have to retrieve units destined for the National Frozen Blood Bank, as they have been put in General Issue! But the problem with the undersized units is that they are often discarded before we can retrieve them (i.e. physically, as well as on the computer, they no longer exist); it is such a waste.

:eek:

Edited January 27, 2010 by Malcolm Needs
As ever - spelling!

[heathervaught]

Our policy is that a 130-lb donor who loses less than 65 mL total (we collect in a bag with a sample diversion pouch, so 42 mL is in the pouch, 11 mL in the bag, and the rest is tubing) is eligible to either be re-stuck during that same visit and an entire 500 mL unit collected OR may come back as soon as the next day. This is based on total blood loss as a function of the donor's estimated blood volume, so if you are collecting a 450-mL unit, you may be allowed to withdraw more blood on the unsuccessful stick than 65 mL.

A donor who is <130 lbs or loses more than 65 mL must wait the entire 8 week period.

Hope this helps!

Heather

[Deb]

We have a very similar process to Heathers

[adiescast]

I agree Marilyn; ours are flagged too.

We often have to retrieve units destined for the National Frozen Blood Bank, as they have been put in General Issue! But the problem with the undersized units is that they are often discarded before we can retrieve them (i.e. physically, as well as on the computer, they no longer exist); it is such a waste.

:eek:

That is a crying shame. Maybe you need to cultivate a mole in their processing department who can fetch these units out for you before they hit the bin. A bribe perhaps?

[Malcolm Needs ☆]

That is a crying shame. Maybe you need to cultivate a mole in their processing department who can fetch these units out for you before they hit the bin. A bribe perhaps?

Nice thought, but it is all to do with GMP and the audit trail on the computer (you know - the computer - the thing that is, supposedly, there to help us - not the other way around).

:angered::angered:

[adiescast]

Oh yes, that thing. GMPs are the same way. They are supposed to help us, but in some things they are an unnecessary hinderance. I don't see any reason why a unit that is QNS for transfusion cannot be routed into what is, essentially, manufacturing (since you plan to use the cells for testing). There must be a way to get this done without violating any laws. We are able to get plasma containing antibodies from our blood supplier for use with students and trainees. (Of course our situation could be different, given the water between us...)

[stu]

HI: If we collect more than 100ml from the donor they are defered for the for the full 8 weeks. Under 100 we will attemp to collect from the other arm or have them come back after 1 week. We typically collect 450ml, so this keeps us under the max volume numbers