Number of employee

[draaa]

Hi to all

I want to know please how many workers should be in each section of main blood bank who covers 1 main hospital with 1500 beds and 2 other local hospital in the same city each one have 300 beds and 6 hospitals in small towns in the same area ?and if there is any refrence that i could use it.

thank you

[draaa]

Waiting for your reply please.

our blood bank needs it very soon because there is shortage in staff and the head of the hospital refuse to increase them.

[heathervaught]

Well, I imagine that you haven't gotten a response because everyone will say "It depends..."

You need to know (1) how many tests are performed in your laboratory annually/monthly/daily; (2) the depth of testing that you perform at your laboratory [do you do full work-ups on positive ABY screens, or do you send them to a reference laboratory? What about workups for suspected warm autos?]; (3) the amount of time that it completes to perform each test using the methodology in use at your facility (tube/gel/automation/etc); (4) the amount of PTO/sick/vacation days accrued by your staff...

You are not going to find a one-size-fits-all answer. You must go back through your facility's documentation and come up with evidence that is relevant to your hospital to convice those who need to be convinced that you need more people.

[Eoin]

Hi draaa,

I have looked at this a number of times and carried out an exhaustive literature review. Nothing I have found is very helpful. One exists for histopathologists (surprise surprise). A hard and fast rule does not exist. I guess it's a case of one size does not fit all.

If you find a formula let me know. I would be very interested as I am sure would lots of others. Good luck with pressing your case. I have found that letters of concern re likelyhood of errors to CEOs are helpful.

Cheers

Eoin

[adiescast]

Turn around time results and actual error rates can also be helpful, along with documentation of staff turn over due to burn out. I guess you could look at your volume of various types of testing and how long it takes a tech to perform those tests. You could then calculate the man hours needed for the turn around time desired with the testing. For example, if one tech could perform four type and screen tests in 30 minutes, then they could do 8 in an hour and 64 in an 8 hour day. If you have an automated instrument, you should be able to generate throughput data for it as well. It is important to remember the extra stuff that has to be done that does not contribute directly to productivity (such as instrument maintenace and quality control) and factor that time in also.

As others have already mentioned, this is not a one size fits all. You can obtain very high throughput if all you do are routine type and screens, but everything tends to come to a crawl if you have any kinds of problems (antibodies, instruments that malfunction frequently, etc.).

[L106]

The three posts above all provide useful information. Administration usually won't give you the time of day without facts and figures to support your requests.

Any plans for purchasing automation to help handle the workload? Sometimes it is easier to get approval for equipment purchases than it is to get additional personnel.

[vilma_mt]

I have also tried to research this...nothing, no hard fast rules. CAP if I remember came up with something but has since been abandoned, I believe they calculate the # of minutes it takes to perform a tes ie. takes <30minutes for ab panel. This works for Heme or Chem but not Blood Bank. I wish it's as easy as Nursing's. If your blood bank is grossly understaffed, your case maybe be heard if you press on safety, reduction of error and turn around time. There is always strength in numbers, ask to be heard as a group. Goodluck!

Edited March 22, 2010 by vilma_mt

[RR1]

How many staff do you need to currently run all aspects of your service ( including the quality issues such as audits, validation, regulatory reporting etc), without falling behind with tasks?

If your lab copes with the daily service demands, and there is some slack built in to increase the workload, then this is generally the correct staffing number for your department.

You also need to include the time needed for training your staff.

[Malcolm Needs ☆]

(including the quality issues such as audits, validation, regulatory reporting etc), without falling behind with tasks?

Does anyone have enough staff to cope with these issues nowadays????????????????

:mad::mad::mad::mad::mad:

[RR1]

(including the quality issues such as audits, validation, regulatory reporting etc), without falling behind with tasks?

Does anyone have enough staff to cope with these issues nowadays????????????????

:mad::mad::mad::mad::mad:

That's the whole point of staff/capacity planning; most of us currently struggle to even meet basic training requirements, but unless we formalize this in a document to show senior management that there is a lack of capacity and the consequences associated with this e.g increased errors, cost, regulatory inspections etc, nothing will ever be done about it.

[Malcolm Needs ☆]

That's the whole point of staff/capacity planning; most of us currently struggle to even meet basic training requirements, but unless we formalize this in a document to show senior management that there is a lack of capacity and the consequences associated with this e.g increased errors, cost, regulatory inspections etc, nothing will ever be done about it.

That wasn't quite what I meant.

What I meant was, if there is any slack in the system, you can guarantee it will be filled by some new Quality requirement, or Health and Safety requirement, or similar, that has never been required before (like the pancake races or concker playing that has been banned in certain areas of the UK because of Health and Safety concerns, where there has never been an injury since time immemorial).

[RR1]

Yes, I see what you mean,but ideally ( yes I know i'm living in cloud cuckoo land !) if departments were managed properly , an annual review of all functions/ Q.S functions would show lack of capacity to take on any new requirements, and this would need to be resolved before implementing.

As I recall the UK minimum requirements for transfusion laboratories document, released last year, mentions performing an annual assessment of staffing to meet requirements?

In addition, you could also build capacity into your lab by 'leaning' systems currently in place.

Edited March 23, 2010 by RR1

[xbsyb]

i suggest you had better having 15-21 guies

[draaa]

Thank you for your help

I agree with most of you that we should know the work load and how we can manage it wisely ,

we have 53 employee from doctors,nerses , techs,cleaners and porters and about 200 donors each day and about 300 orders between x-match ,ABO blood grouping ...etc

but with this # of worker we are having some problems with shortage of staff and they want to decrease it more .

[webersl]

Draaa,

What country are you in?

[draaa]

Hi Webersl

I am from Saudi Arabia