crash cart and donation room

[umeshkumar]

Is it mandatory to have a crash cart in the Blood donation center. What are the mandatory first aid equipment and medication that need be in the donation room to ensure donor safety in the event of an adverse reaction that happens to the donor?

thanks

[David Saikin]

Crash cart is NOT essential, but . . . donors have died during the process. It is your Medical Director's decision on what/how you are going to care for donor reactions. There does need to be emergency medical treatment available.

[Smarty pants]

Is it mandatory to have a crash cart in the Blood donation center. What are the mandatory first aid equipment and medication that need be in the donation room to ensure donor safety in the event of an adverse reaction that happens to the donor?

thanks

I don't know of a single blood center that DOES have a crash cart (and I have visited MANY in the US).

Most who do apheresis will have an epi pen. If you have an RN who could administer an IV, you could have saline in the event that fluid replacement becomes necessary. All have a standard/basic first aid kit, and all staff are CPR certified. There is a risk/ liability that comes with your unlicensed staff administering medications, and how many licensed staff do you have? I believe the US regs require that you have "access" to medical aid; and that need can be met by simply dialing 911.

[umeshkumar]

thanks david.

does AABB or FDA have some guidelines for this?

Crash cart is NOT essential, but . . . donors have died during the process. It is your Medical Director's decision on what/how you are going to care for donor reactions. There does need to be emergency medical treatment available.

[umeshkumar]

thanks. Our staff are CPR certified (BLS). Thank God! all donor adverse reactions we had have so far been vasovagal syncope, which our staff could manage. In the event of a call for code blue and when the code blue team comes to the donation room wont this crash cart come handy? I need more clarifications to continue my discussions with our medical services director. thanks

[Deb]

We used to keep a crash cart in our hospital based donor room, but it was primarily there because we also had RN's performing therapeutic exchanges on patients. That service was transfered and some years ago our organization determined to remove many of the individual service crash carts because there was a lot of maintenance involved and most supplies/drugs were expiring. In any case, none of my staff are trained or licensed to use the supplies on a crash card and the crash team also responds with applicable crash cart supplies. Check with your response team, they probably bring a crash cart with them.

[noora]

I am looking forward the answer based on AABB standard.

is it mandatory? what about if there is inside the institution but not inside the donation room itself?

if not mandatory, What are the mandatory first aid equipment and medication that need be in the donation room?

[Neil Blumberg]

No AABB standard requires a crash cart.  Donors do not develop anaphylactic reactions, but this type of reaction is why offices or facilities that administer transfusions or IVIgG (and similar products) need to be able to administer epinephrine emergently.  Most of the rest of the stuff in a crash cart would never be needed and certainly not for blood donors.   So no crash cart unless you are administering human blood products or drugs that can cause anaphylaxis. 

Edited January 16, 2023 by Neil Blumberg