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Pneumatic Tube Systems


AMcCord

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We are using the Swisslog system and have for about 10 years. In general things go well but the system can get backed up during peak times of the day and tubes may not leave the station as quickly for OR and ER as we would like.

If we are sending blood for a massive txn we try and encourage them to pick it up in a cooler so they have ice and they get all the products at one time, eliminating the problem that some may not get removed from the station where they arrive.

Our carriers are for blood transport are foam padded so we have had to place notes in the tubes to remind staff not to remove the liners before sending units back (to avoid hemolysis). But it's a constant battle because other areas think the only was someone will open a tube is if they can see that there is something inside of it and so they remove the liners (and sometimes discard them). We now keep a supply of extra liners in the Transfusion Service so we can reline the tubes as needed.

Because with the pneumatic tubes the units are no longer delivered on ice, it took some RN education to get them used to the idea that they need to have everything in place (consent, IV, pt temp) to basically be ready to start the unit as soon as it arrives (or return to us in 20 min).

All in all its been a very efficient method. But when it goes down for contamination or service issues finding enough messengers to run the units becomes a challenge now!

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  • 4 months later...

Do you use a  temperature indicator on the RBC unit?

On Thursday, March 10, 2016 at 2:31 PM, AMcCord said:

We are looking at tube systems - we are planning to use it to deliver blood products and pharmaceuticals, as well as move specimens. Any one have experience with the aerocom tube systems? Any negatives we need to consider?

Do you use a temperature indicator on the RBC when it is sent via pneumatic tube

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On 7/22/2016 at 8:06 PM, pinktoptube said:

Our validation showed there was no temperature change in transport and if it was sent back we take the temp of the unit, so we opted not to use temperature indicators.

Good to know. We are moving forward with the tube system, but no construction has started yet.

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