KKidd Posted March 20, 2015 Share Posted March 20, 2015 When blood is issued on a patient, do you place it in an opaque bag or other container during transport to the floor? My manager was saying that some visitors might not like seeing the blood . THanks for the input!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mollyredone Posted March 20, 2015 Share Posted March 20, 2015 Ours are not in opaque bags, but most are sent through the tube system now. As for the visitors...they're in a hospital!! It's not like you are traipsing through the cafeteria with it, right? tbostock 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KKidd Posted March 20, 2015 Author Share Posted March 20, 2015 I agree Molly with your assessment, but we have just had an inspection and.............................. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tbostock Posted March 20, 2015 Share Posted March 20, 2015 Ours are not, they are clear plastic. It's so weird that someone in a hospital would be offended by a unit of blood. We had a visitor complain once because she saw our blood supplier courier walking through the halls with a box that said "human blood" on it....really??? John C. Staley and L106 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mollyredone Posted March 21, 2015 Share Posted March 21, 2015 I agree Molly with your assessment, but we have just had an inspection and..............................What standard did they cite, or was this just someone's opinion? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SMILLER Posted March 21, 2015 Share Posted March 21, 2015 I would be surprised if there was a standard regulating the visabilty (or lack) of blood within units carried through public areas, but who knows? Having said that, I suppose that some people's reaction to seing blood inside a unit may be equal to seeing an uncovered corpse's visage on the way to the morgue. For the same reason, when I bring back specimens on my little bone-marrow assisting cart I cover everything with a towel, and phlebotomists do their best to keep their carts ordered. Scott Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KKidd Posted March 23, 2015 Author Share Posted March 23, 2015 No standard, the question was posed by my manager during an inspection. We didn't get cited and she just wanated me to check with my peers! Thanks for the input! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Karrieb61 Posted March 23, 2015 Share Posted March 23, 2015 We use clear plastic. In a former job, the BB was using lunch bags till the day when a transporter went to the Caf first, left the bag on the table and it was scooped up and tossed in the trash somewhere. That was the end of the lunch bags. Malcolm Needs and L106 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KKidd Posted March 23, 2015 Author Share Posted March 23, 2015 We use clear plastic. In a former job, the BB was using lunch bags till the day when a transporter went to the Caf first, left the bag on the table and it was scooped up and tossed in the trash somewhere. That was the end of the lunch bags.Thanks for that info, my manager may be interested to hear this little tid bit, Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AMcCord Posted March 24, 2015 Share Posted March 24, 2015 We use the FinalCheck system, so our units go to the floor in a clear biohazard labeled bag that is designed to go with the locks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AuntiS Posted March 24, 2015 Share Posted March 24, 2015 Until recently, we did not even place blood or blood products in a bag at all. Now we use a biohazard bag - so clear plastic- and place the issue paperwork in the sleeve. (Change was precipitated by an inquiry by a staff porter who did not want to touch the bag). Love the little lunch bag story. Wish I could say I was shocked and surprised When the change happened, the staff was not happy! They did not like the extra step. Honestly, I can't even remember why we thought it was even a good idea to hand the blood out without a bag! s Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
carolyn swickard Posted March 26, 2015 Share Posted March 26, 2015 There was a query on here a couple a years ago that said one of the Joint inspectors was using an infection control standard to cite the Blood Bank for not placing the blood in an extra outside bag before tranport to the floors. They wanted the blood contained in case the unit was dropped (they do occasionally break that way). We have had a little trouble introducing an extra bag here. There are already so many plastic bags being thrown out that everyone objected to yet another unrecycled waste product. We could't find anything that would both contain the product and conceal the product. We will wind up with a clear plastic bag and the visitors will just have to avert their eyes, I guess. Though I have heard of folks passing out and falling at the mere sight of a bag of blood....... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mollyredone Posted March 26, 2015 Share Posted March 26, 2015 Carolyn, my son is one of those people who might pass out. But at least he would be in a hospital! We use clear biohazard bags. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mabel Adams Posted March 27, 2015 Share Posted March 27, 2015 There is another quite thorough thread on here somewhere about this. I recall the story of someone fainting from seeing the blood and hitting their head and becoming a patient. We use clear bags. Strictly speaking the blood is not a biohazard. There is a specific rule from OSHA that covers tested donor blood. The reference to that is on here somewhere too. I wonder if patients are freaked out that you are going to infuse something marked as a biohazard. We have had two high school kids faint recently during tours of our Lab when we showed them the blood so maybe we should be getting opaque bags. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eoin Posted March 27, 2015 Share Posted March 27, 2015 We use Labcold (UK Company) Blood Transport Boxes , which have a light polystyrene lining. to transport from Issue Fridges to wards / departments (relatively inexpensive).We don't want to offend / alarm anyone - and someone passing out would only detract from the task at hand, possibly delaying that transport. Eoin Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tricore Posted March 27, 2015 Share Posted March 27, 2015 "some visitors might not like seeing the blood"Just curious, what do these "offended" people do when they see the blood running into the person they are visiting? Do the nurses have to put a towel over the bag? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AMcCord Posted March 28, 2015 Share Posted March 28, 2015 "some visitors might not like seeing the blood"Just curious, what do these "offended" people do when they see the blood running into the person they are visiting? Do the nurses have to put a towel over the bag? Funny you should bring this up....we had a patient getting blood once who fainted at the sight of blood and the nurse had to cover her unit and the tubing right up to the cannula in her hand. Stealth transfusion . Malcolm Needs, Sandy L, L106 and 2 others 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sandy L Posted March 28, 2015 Share Posted March 28, 2015 We use clear plastic bags. Since the unit has a tie tag with compatibilty label and also an 8 1/2" by 11" transfusion record with same info (both containing patient information), we fold the transfusion record inside out and stick the unit inside the folded paper. That way no patient information can be seen while the unit is walked through the halls. The added benefit is that the unit is not really visible to visitors. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kirkaw Posted April 8, 2015 Share Posted April 8, 2015 There was a query on here a couple a years ago that said one of the Joint inspectors was using an infection control standard to cite the Blood Bank for not placing the blood in an extra outside bag before tranport to the floors. They wanted the blood contained in case the unit was dropped (they do occasionally break that way). We have had a little trouble introducing an extra bag here. There are already so many plastic bags being thrown out that everyone objected to yet another unrecycled waste product. We could't find anything that would both contain the product and conceal the product. We will wind up with a clear plastic bag and the visitors will just have to avert their eyes, I guess. Though I have heard of folks passing out and falling at the mere sight of a bag of blood.......Our Joint commission inspector in 2012 said that staff transporting blood should wear gloves. Our 2014 inspector disagreed, saying there was no biohazard sticker on a unit of blood. The issue of an outer covering/bag never came up. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jlmoses Posted April 22, 2015 Share Posted April 22, 2015 We have changed from clear ziplocks to insulated lunch bags. We place a small gelpak (not frozen) in with the unit. If the unit is returned to us, we check the temp as we always have. Only now the temp stays almost identical to the temp when removed from the fridge. R1R2 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Karrieb61 Posted April 22, 2015 Share Posted April 22, 2015 Jlmoses, how do you manage to get the lunch bags back? I can see those going missing forever in no time. I'd love to use a system like that to avoid a return of red cells after 40 minutes (turns warm, have to discard) for example but cannot believe that the bags would find their way back to the lab. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Auntie-D Posted May 6, 2015 Share Posted May 6, 2015 We have opaque bags with a ziplock seal and handle after a nurse was carrying one on top of patients notes and it slipped off and fell to the floor and burst. The blood went everywhere and a visitor passed out at the sight of the blood and landed in the puddle - completely unavoidalble mess! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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