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Blood Bank Staff as runners


SportsFan

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Recently at my hospital, it has been suggested that the blood bank staff should be the runners for all massive transfusions. My gut reaction is no. We currently do not do this and this was not done at my previous institution. I talked to some colleagues at other hospitals and the majority  except one said they do not run. I am hoping to hear what others do and use this as evidence for or against this idea of the blood bank staff running blood.

 

The idea of us running worries me especially if the situation arises where there is more than one bleeding patient. Thanks for any experiences that you share!

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We were told that they don't have anyone to spare. Also they would have to train mutliple people on multiple shifts on how to pick up products as well as where the blood bank is.

 

We will have the same issues and more because we have to train people on multiple locations!! As far as staff, they said we should petition the hsopital for more staffing so we can be runners.

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We avoid this when possible, but it isn't always possible. At night we sometimes have no choice as staffing is tight for nursing. Lab always calls staff in for mass transfusion and traumas with multiples bleeding as normal staffing is 2 after 9 PM.  That doesn't cover the extra work in blood bank, much less the extra phone calls, etc. That gives us staffing so that one of the call in techs can be designated the runner if necessary. This can actually be a good thing, especially in the ER, because that person can answer lab questions, coordinate draws, facilitate specimen transport, etc. On days and evenings we generally do not run blood - the nursing resource coordinator will do it or find someone from another patient care area that is not as busy.

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We are the runners for MTPs. We don't have "extra" staff either, but it has shown to work for us. The Blood Banker stays put, another tech or phleb or supervisor becomes the runner.

1. We know where the patient is and can get the blood directly there to the bedside (or to the OR nurse who meets us at the OR door). The unit won't get left on a counter, handed to the wrong nurse, etc.

2. We know when the blood is ready to go out the door. You're trying to work on a MTP and multiple people are coming in yelling, tapping their foot, etc. We don't like the drama in the BB where the tech is trying to concentrate.

3. We can interact with nurses and docs about how the patient's doing...should we run faster, or slower? This also keeps unnecessary phone calls to the BB tech.

4. We're covering our......we can't get blamed later for a delay if we get the blood there as quick as possible. The trauma docs love it, and it shows good customer service on our part.

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As Lab Manger, if we were adequately staffed and I wasn't needed in the lab I would often deliver uncrossmatched blood to the ward/theatre as I was then able to talk to them and find out more details of the situation and how the patient was, which made it easier for us to be pro-active, and gave me an opportunity to provide advice on what products may be needed, in what quantities and in which order.

This was well received by medical staff but it was always made clear that this was an extra and not something we could offer routinely, and certainly not on a 24/7 basis.

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We are the runners for MTPs. We don't have "extra" staff either, but it has shown to work for us. The Blood Banker stays put, another tech or phleb or supervisor becomes the runner.

1. We know where the patient is and can get the blood directly there to the bedside (or to the OR nurse who meets us at the OR door). The unit won't get left on a counter, handed to the wrong nurse, etc.

2. We know when the blood is ready to go out the door. You're trying to work on a MTP and multiple people are coming in yelling, tapping their foot, etc. We don't like the drama in the BB where the tech is trying to concentrate.

3. We can interact with nurses and docs about how the patient's doing...should we run faster, or slower? This also keeps unnecessary phone calls to the BB tech.

4. We're covering our......we can't get blamed later for a delay if we get the blood there as quick as possible. The trauma docs love it, and it shows good customer service on our part.

 

 

Terri, it looks as though it works well for you. 

At my previous 2 facilities it would have been difficult.  At one of those facilities the Nursing Supervisor was actually the designated blood runner after hours.  I think it was to keep them busy and out of the way while keeping them involved.  During the day it was often handled by the patient transport team.  They always seemed to have a few extra hands available.  The other facility had a very complete pneumatic tube system that was a life saver in every sense of the phrase.

:ph34r:

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  • 2 years later...

In my experience you only "run" the blood when something very very critical is occurring. I've done it less than a handful of times in 40 yrs. I'd deal with the computer later (you can always back date/time - or should be able to). Can't let the pt exsanguinate for the paperwork.

Oh for sure. I was just wondering do you say you checked it out to yourself/leave a comment ?

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I agree that except for the rare exception, most transfusion services do not have the staff to provide this service 24/7.  But in most cases you will need to defend this decision with metrics.  Show staffing, impact to patient care on the whole, cost to have a Med Tech performing transport duties etc.  Who knows, maybe you can justify more staff based on how often there is a need for this service at your facility! :)

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Our current procedure says we only check out blood to a licensed RN, LPN, Paramedic, or Perfusionist.

Is that a hospital decision ? Can I change that?

The only regulation is that the person is trained/competent to pick up/transport blood.  So it's a hospital decision who you let pick up blood; it should be an employee though (no volunteers, students, etc) because if something happens you need to be able to trace to who picked it up.  We use the pneumatic tube system so we don't have anyone coming to pick up anymore.

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" Also they would have to train mutliple people on multiple shifts on how to pick up products as well as where the blood bank is."

 

If you have people in other departments at your hospital who can't find the Blood Bank, it might be better that you make the deliveries yourself!

 

Here we do run blood to ER, but everyone else comes and gets it in most situations.  If we have an MTP in a unit and they are way busy and need us to run coolers up, we will do that if possible. 

 

Scott

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We used to deliver the 1st box only on an ER bleeding episode - helped us to deliver and get the Emergency Release form to the right people and sometimes even signed.  The last few years - ER has managed that run. 

 

We are so short staffed now that I have even had to ask the OR to start picking up for the heart surgeries too (we used to deliver just for the heart surgeries).  We can no longer manage that and keep the Blood Bank going for that patient and the rest of the patients too.  OR doesn't have a lot of spare people either, but at least they have more than one person up there!

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We don't run blood as a rule. However, due to our recent debacle with the shooting incident, I would consider it for multiple traumas, since we call in more people anyway. There was an ER tech (according to one of our phlebes) who was walking around with a box of 8 units of O PRBCs asking each room if they needed one!!! There are a total of 8 PRBCs that I will never know who they went to. Very frustrating!

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Whenever this subject comes up, I respond with 'Would you rather have the BB Techs running around the hallways or in the Blood Bank working on the case?' 

 

We do not deliver.  Period.  There are lots of people in this hospital who are trained to do that (like every ward has a handful, transportation department, etc.).  If requested, we say 'call the nursing supervisor, he/she will make the necessary assignments.'

 

PS.  We do have a DumbWaiter that we use for the ORs (one floor above us).

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We don't run blood as a rule. However, due to our recent debacle with the shooting incident, I would consider it for multiple traumas, since we call in more people anyway. There was an ER tech (according to one of our phlebes) who was walking around with a box of 8 units of O PRBCs asking each room if they needed one!!! There are a total of 8 PRBCs that I will never know who they went to. Very frustrating!

I agree ... this is extenuating circumstances and actually more efficient at getting blood products 'out the door' when 'multiple unknown recipients' are involved.  I believe they used this approach during the Boston Marathon bombing but instead of 'just anyone' distributing the blood, they used a BB/Lab tech who knew the importance of keeping track of the units/recipients.

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