Multiple Questions

[Brenda K Hutson]

Actually I want to run a few "totally unrelated" things by you:

1. What is your cut-off grade of D Reactivity for considering a patient a Rhogam Candidate?  At what strength of D Typing do you say the patient is Rh Positive and is not a Rhogam candidate; vs. what strength do you say she may be a Partial D so you give Rhogam to be on the safe side (or do you have testing performed to confirm one way or the other; molecular testing)?  We have a current patient who is 2+ which I am inclined to just report as Rh Positive....but that is the strength at which we have our machine flag our Rh Types as questionable.
2. On a totally different subject.....validation of new Platelet Rotator/ Incubator.  Clinical Engineering did all of their checks and we are doing Alarm and Temp. checks.  I am also trying to procure expired platelet apheresis to "load" the rotator and ensure it maintains temp. with a full load.  Anything else anyone out there does for this validation?
3. And on yet another note.....with your Donor Center Contracts, how many of you state such requirements as:

• % if Standing Order that can be cut/ month
• Requirement to never allow you to go below Minimum Levels of any given blood type
• % of RBCs that must be fresh (i.e. no >8 days old)?
• % of group O RBCs that must be fresh (may be higher than overall # for all RBCs above)
• What other restrictions do some of you list?

Thanks,

Brenda Hutson, MT(ASCP)SBB