I want to do a survey regarding the practice of return used blood bags to blood bank. Currently my hospital make it compulsory to return all transfused blood bags to blood bank. Then we’ll keep it in a dedicated fridge before discard. The main reason is for investigation of delayed hemolytic transfusion reaction should it occur. But it is a very rare incidence, where we need to retrieve the segment from used blood bag for investigation (actually never encounter before). What is your hospitals practice? TQ in advance.

We remove a segment at issue with a unit number sticker.  The nurse disposes of the bag after transfusion.  We store the segments with the daily specimens and dispose of them when the samples are disposed.  

We also have empty blood bags returned to the blood bank. We keep them for 7 days following transfusion. We keep the bags in the morgue where there is room for storage. We decided this was the easiest way to keep what we needed in case of delayed reactions, especially since we don't have many of these called. We thought this was easier than having to pull segments off of the units and store.  We have a special door below the Blood Bank window where the nurses or volunteer can drop of the units into a biohazard bag. We just fill up the bag, label with in and out dates, and take to the morgue. Pretty painless!

We used to get them back from OR.  What with bags returned with needles attached, and units clotting to the counter, it became a biohazardous nightmare.  Now we only get back bags associated with transfusion reactions.

We don't have bags returned to us.  We take off 2 segments when we retype the units and save for a month, 1 week in each bag.  It's easy to find by when it was retyped in the computer and there are only four small bags to check for the correct date.

13 hours ago, amym1586 said:

We remove a segment at issue with a unit number sticker.  The nurse disposes of the bag after transfusion.  We store the segments with the daily specimens and dispose of them when the samples are disposed.  

Our only difference was that we cut off 2 segments.  We stopped getting bags back over 25 years ago.  Hated the mess and getting them back served no real purpose.

Yikes, can't imagine.  We issue about 25k red cells a year.  I have no idea where we'd keep the returns.

We save a segment.

We save segments

We take 2 segments when each unit is checked out. The empty bags come back so we can verify compliance for hangtags left on unit, FinalCheck lock unlocked/bio-bag not cut open and grab pigtails if someone forgets to grab them at checkout. The empties come back sealed in the bags they were issued in so any mess is contained in the bag. Usually the only ones that come back with a mess in the bag are the ones you end up fishing into for the pigtails . We toss them in a really big plastic tote with a lid. When the lid is popping off, we dump them. We only issue about 900 units of red cells a year, so it's workable.

 

 

  We save segments for 49 days from the time we receive them. We only get bags back for transfusion reactions.

We keep segments only too.  This is a new change for us because until recently every bag was returned.  It was really handy if a unit needed to be cultured.  I'm not sure we will always get the bag back when needed for culturing in the future (depending on the timing).

 

3 hours ago, Kathyang said:

We only get bags back for transfusion reactions

Same with us.  Then we have the bag if it needs to be cultured.  Doesn't work for delayed reactions, but I would question the suitability of culturing a bag from several days ago.

Returned blood bags are a risk and an outdated practice IMO.  I have never seen one that didn't leak all over the place, floor, bag counter, fridge, even when placed in a plastic bag.   And then there was the occasional needle to deal with. We save segments. 

 

 

We save segments and only get bags back with transfusion reactions.

We pull two segments upon delivery.  One for retype, one in the event of a delayed reaction.  We keep them for two months.  The only units that we get back are actual suspected transfusion reactions.

We save a segment at crossmatching with the patient's sample, all rubberbanded together.  Only get bags back in the event of a suspected reaction

We do not get the blood bags back unless there is a transfusion reaction.  We save a segment for 7-14d post transfusion.

We save 2 segments and get bags returned only if transfusion reaction. We briefly discussed getting the bags back after a off-site clinic had a delayed reaction (patient reported to ER later), but logistically, seemed like a bit of a nightmare.

We reserve 2 segments at check in and save for 7 weeks, one week per bag. The transfusions bags are discarded on the floor

We removed and saved 2 segments from all unit when they are received in the blood bank. These are saved for 2 months in the case of a transfusion reaction investigation. Empty bags are only returned to the blood bank if there is a suspected transfusion reaction.

20 hours ago, donellda said:

We removed and saved 2 segments from all unit when they are received in the blood bank. These are saved for 2 months in the case of a transfusion reaction investigation. Empty bags are only returned to the blood bank if there is a suspected transfusion reaction.

DITTO!

We keep a segment pulled at issue for 10 days placed in a cup with issue date.

Same here. We only require blood bags that are involved in transfusion reactions returned to blood bank. Other than that, the nurses dispose them.