Transfusion Reaction Proficiency Testing

[Jack J]

How do you meet requirements for proficiency testing for transfusion reactions and how many times a year do you perform this?

I know of no survey materials for this but think it is required for CAP/AABB accredidation.

Thanks for any suggestions,

Jack J

[JOANBALONE]

TRM.46150 Are criteria for the recognition of transfusion reactions documented, and is there documentation of at least annual in-service education on the recognition of such reactions?

Hi Jack,

I think this checklist item is meant for the transfusionist, not the blood bank. Our BB put together a PPT for the transfusionists. It mirrors our BB and nursing policies and procedures. It also gives a brief discription of different types of transfusion reactions. A quiz is included at the end. The transfusionists view it annually.

JB

[Malcolm Needs ☆]

There are such a huge number of ways of having a transfusion reaction, that I'm not sure that you could have a Transfusion Reaction Proficiency Test without a narrower title (see attachments).

No, sorry, the file is 13.7MB in zipped form, and I can only attach a file 4.7MB large in zipped form.

If you send me an email address to malcolm.needs@blueyonder.co.uk, I'll send it to you.

:confused::confused:

[adiescast]

I agree with Joan. We have computer based training here that the nurses view and take a quiz on annually. Obviously, as Malcolm pointed out, this would not cover every possible eventuality. The main thing is that they stay vigilant and have a level of suspicion that allows them to question unusual symptoms in transfused patients.

[L106]

I agree with adiescast and Joan.....I think they are referring to whether there is documented evidence that the transfusionist is knowledgable about the signs & symptoms of Transfusion Reactions and knows the appropriate action to take.

Within the Laboratory, we do Proficiency Testing on the individual components of the testing (ABO, Rh, DAT, etc.) that are involved with the Laboratory's investigation of Transfusion Reactions.

[BUGGIE]

Hi, I agree that this question is for the transfusionists. We have a computer inservice for Blood Banking that all lab and nursing staff take each year. Plus we have a Blood Bank In-Lab orientation for all new nursing hires. But even with both of these we have found they are not aware of basic reactions.

We recently were inspected by CLIA and she found several transfusion records with temperature spikes >2F that were not investigated.

So now we are planning to add an annual Transfusionists/Transporter inservice at out National Patient Safety Goal Fair.

I would really appreciate any ideas you have if you do this too. Apparently this will be the Blood Bank Lead Tech's responsibility. So any power points, handouts, ideas for quick easy reviews would be welcome. Thank you so much if you do!

Please email me at sbuggie@rmchcs.org.

[adiescast]

I can't take credit for this Power Point presentation. One of the managers at a competing hospital did this one for her nursing staff. I had to strip off all the fancy backgrounds in order to upload it, so it looks pretty plain, but it has all of the info in it. I hope it helps!

Transfusion Reactions plain.ppt

[Eagle Eye]

I agree with all the posts. The question is talking about nursing competancy. we should have PT program for all the serological tests we perform for transfusion reaction workup. eg. ABO, RH, DAT, crossmatch, antibody detection, antibody identification

[AMcCord]

Some years ago we were cited by CAP for this very item. It is indeed a nursing competency. I collaborate with nursing education for a yearly review/quiz done on a computer. One thing we've done, which seems to open a lot of eyes, is to give them an overall review of symptoms and the procedure to follow with a suspected reaction in conjunction with a case study for a specific type of reaction. Each year it's a different type of reaction. I can tell over the course of the following year that the information hits home with nursing staff based on the questions I get about specific patients.