PAT patient blood armbands

[mara]

For any of you that use a separate blood armband, do you:

1. Place the armband on the patient at the time of Type & Screen collection (and have them wear it for weeks until admission/surgery)?
   
2. Give the patient some type of voucher that has the blood armband number on it at T/S collection that they then have to bring back with them the day of admission to redeem their blood armband (which remains on the patient’s chart). The armband is placed on the patient then on admission?
   
3. Some other means of blood armbanding Pre-Admission patients in advance of their admission/surgery date? If so, please specify.
   

Thanks so much for your feedback!

[Barb Thompson]

For us, we allow pre-op patients to come in up to 7 days prior to their surgery. We band them at the time of the draw, and they are instructed to keep the armband on. If they show up on the day of surgery without the band on, the TS (and any associated crossmatches) is redone and the patient gets a new armband.

[JOANBALONE]

We give them the band to take home with instructions to bring back. We draw up to 14 days in advance of surgery.

JB

[nmartin]

We allow pre-op patients to come in up to 14 days prior to their surgery. We band them at the time of the draw, and they are instructed to keep the armband on. If they show up on the day of surgery without the band on, the patient is redrawn and gets a new armband and the Blood Bank work is all re-done at that point.

[AMcCord]

We draw specimens up to 7 days pre-op. The phleb fills out a form with patient name, MR#, SS# (if the patient will give it) and the Blood Bank ID. The phleb asks the patient to answer the questions ... have you been transfused within 90 days or pregnant within 90 days ... by circling YES or NO. (If the patient answers YES to a question and we are > 72 hours from surgery, we still do the type and antibody screen to look for nasty surprises, but redraw and repeat the day of surgery.) The patient then signs and dates the form, as does the phleb. The patient is then given a card with name, MR#, Blood Bank ID# plus the phlebs initials, date and time of draw plus a signature line that is left blank. The card goes home with the patient with instructions to bring it back the day of surgery. Blood Bank holds their Blood Bank ID band and the form. When admitted, the patient presents the card and is asked to sign (and date) it. The signature is checked against the form (which was signed when the patient was drawn). The hospital ID is checked to verify all ID info. We collect a fresh specimen if we need one and we are good to go. If they forget the card.....all bets are off and we redo everything.

[MAGNUM]

For any of you that use a separate blood armband, do you:

1. Place the armband on the patient at the time of Type & Screen collection (and have them wear it for weeks until admission/surgery)?
   
2. Give the patient some type of voucher that has the blood armband number on it at T/S collection that they then have to bring back with them the day of admission to redeem their blood armband (which remains on the patient’s chart). The armband is placed on the patient then on admission?
   
3. Some other means of blood armbanding Pre-Admission patients in advance of their admission/surgery date? If so, please specify.
   

We issue the blood bank band at the time of specimen collection for the type and screen. We allow 3 days in extreme circumstances, but prefer the day before and usually I get my way and the patient comes in the day before.

[DPruden]

For us, we allow pre-op patients to come in up to 7 days prior to their surgery. We band them at the time of the draw, and they are instructed to keep the armband on. If they show up on the day of surgery without the band on, the TS (and any associated crossmatches) is redone and the patient gets a new armband.

We have this same process.

[Sandy L]

We allow pre-op patients to be drawn up to 10 days before surgery. The blood bank armband is placed at the time of specimen collection. They must complete a transfusion history card, answering 2 questions about transfusion or pregnancy within the past 3 months. It includes a notice statement "I understand that loss or removal of the Blood Bank arm band will result in having to have my blood redrawn." They sign and date the completed card. If they are admitted on the day of surgery without the BB band, we redraw and repeat all testing.

[Deny Morlino]

We allow pre-op patients to come in up to 14 days prior to their surgery. We band them at the time of the draw, and they are instructed to keep the armband on. If they show up on the day of surgery without the band on, the patient is redrawn and gets a new armband and the Blood Bank work is all re-done at that point.

Same process here

[Sherie Bruns]

the questions we ask include has the patient been transfused or pregnant  in the last 3 months.  We extend our PAT specimens 10 days.  we place the armband and instructions in an envelope for the admitting nurse to attach the blood bank armband when the patient is identified for the in-patient hospital armband.  If the envelope is not available at the time of admission, we start over with a new sample.  The questions are asked by the phlebotomist at the time of draw.  Does anyone repeat the question concerning pregnancy or transfusions within the last 3 months at the time of in-patient admission? 

[AMcCord]

No, we don't repeat the question.

[LCoronado]

A question for those of you who have the patient keep an armband on for 7 days or more,  what type of armband do you use?  Ours only have to last for 1-3 days and we've seen some tattered, battered sad armbands upon the patient's return.

[Sherie Bruns]

After the surgery, the specimen outdates after the next 3 full days ( or our time limit of ten full days from the draw date if earlier).  If the patient is still in house and the specimen outdates, do you use another armband number (new armband) or the same armband number?  We have always used the same armband number because our LIS (HCLL) will not allow testing on an expired specimen, but will allow testing on a new specimen with the same armband #.   We do this so we don't have to re-XM on a new specimen when the older specimen is still indated (For example on the tenth full day).