Posted May 15, 20169 yr comment_65776 Do any of your facilities transfer charges for improper handling of blood products (not following storage guidelines, spiking through side of bag, taking to floor and not transfusing, etc...) to nursing units or services such as Surgery/Trauma? Does the Lab/Blood Bank just continue to educate and see it as a cost of doing business?
May 16, 20169 yr comment_65785 We report it as a quality issue - which gets the attention of people who can sink some teeth into the problems on the other end. As a result, we have very few cases of these kinds of issues over the course of a year. We don't charge patient care units for the wasted/destroyed products - my lab director points out that the money all comes from the same pot in the end, i.e. the hospital budget, so he's not interested in taking that route. From a practical standpoint, the person who did something dumb to waste the product or the doctor who cancelled the order would never know about or care about the charge, so it doesn't address cause and prevention. The money is small in the overall scheme of things, so pushing a charge through does not provide much of motivator for nursing management to fix problems or educate staff. (If you need to bill for enough wasted products that it IS a financial issue, you've got major problems.) That's why we choose to use the quality route. That's something that management notices here.
May 16, 20169 yr comment_65788 We also enter it as an event wasting blood/blood components so it can be reviewed by the appropriate people.
May 16, 20169 yr comment_65789 We do not charge for wastage . . . some is acceptable, but if it is not we refer the incident to quality
May 16, 20169 yr comment_65790 In addition to being a financial and quality issue, I've tried using the ethical approach (donors giving up their blood as well as time, etc.) I can't say it's been successful but I suppose it can't hurt to throw that in to the discussion at each facility.
May 16, 20169 yr comment_65798 4 hours ago, hcjaz said: In addition to being a financial and quality issue, I've tried using the ethical approach (donors giving up their blood as well as time, etc.) I can't say it's been successful but I suppose it can't hurt to throw that in to the discussion at each facility. Excellent point! We also make that point in some discussions and it does seem to have at least a little impact. My hospital prides itself on hosting successful blood drives, so seeing the problem from a donor perspective can hit home with some staff.
May 18, 20169 yr comment_65808 On 5/16/2016 at 9:49 AM, David Saikin said: We do not charge for wastage . . . some is acceptable, but if it is not we refer the incident to quality Ditto
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