Skinrash

Due to the lack of being allowed to upgrade my Internet Explorer from version 6 to version 8, is there another way to get to this libraray tab? I can not see a Library tab in the toolbar nor can I find the library. Thanks for any suggestions.

I need some help finding the document sharing thread on this site. I could have sworn there is a document sharing feature on this site. If I'm wrong, I would like to suggest an easy spot on this site to access documents that we all can share. I don't know about the rest of you, but I'm not embarassed to say that I find it easy to take a document that is already created and simply edit it to fit your organization's needs. Currently I'm updating my Prenatal, Rhogam, post partum care policy's and would like to see other's policies to compare and possibly enhance my own. Is anyone willing to share these type of documents with me? Thanks!

has anyone ever used the document control software from SOFTECH! It is amazing! I have been in the lab career for a short 12 years, but I can honestly say that this software has been our most effective purchase at our organization since, I've been here. (all twelve years). I can easily say it was probably the single best reason for our accreditation to CAP ISO 15189! The functionality of this peace of software has helped me out greatly as a supervisor! It's ease of use for all classifications of associates in our lab. I have no association with SoftTech, I'm simply a user who loves it that much!

In our SOPs, we define what "Rare" is by attaching a dollar amount to it. Of course we still run all appropriate QC, but this is our way of using those outdate costly rare-antisera.

Thank you for everyone's valid points. These are the very same issues we are currently going through. Our pharmacy sees every written order for what they dispence, so many are wondering why the blood bank doesn't do the same. And as expected, folks here are questioning our processes because of a near miss incident that triggered a root cause analysis. In the end, it was declared that the nursing staff simply misread and did not understand the physicians order. Not only is the process spelled out in the nursing transfusion policy that the TWO participating individuals must verify the existance of a physicians order for transfusion and signed consent, but must also sign a certification statement that they did so on each issue/transfusion form for each blood product issued. Right now I have to side with the argument that those nursing and clerical staff upstairs have to follow established procedures and be held accountable. My believe is that our process if very cleary spelled out, we should expect people to perform their job as expected, and stop shifting the responsibility to others. Our Blood Bank will always gladly assist in the process of clearifying an order, however if it still unclear, our staff (nursing and lab) has to have reasonable critical thinking skills to call the physican for clearification. Again, thank you for everyones debate! Carry on Blood Bankers!

I'm from an approx. 200 bed community hospital where we have 1 Blood Bank tech on days, 1 on second shift, and a floating generalist on the night shift. I'm wondering how many Blood Banks out there actually have to physically see and review the physician's order for transfusion prior to issuing a blood product? Currently we do not, but our VP of clinical services is pondering the idea.

Could you please expand on the comment about waiting for their gel products to be available????? I am unaware of any of their plans to move into the gel market. What are they going to be offering??? I have been watching BioTest (now BioRad) since they became FDA cleared and entered the market just a couple of years ago. I have not committed to purchasing any of their reagents yet, but I'm becoming more and more convinced I need to concider switching sooner than later. Currently we are using Ortho Gel with a ProVue and have Immucor as our back up method for tube testing and antigen typing. Also could anyone expand on the validating process? I'm hearing some do large validation comparison studies and I hear some saying not to spend much effort because the FDA has essentially validated these reagents for us? I'm not exactly sure what to do with this conflicting info. As Blood bankers, we can't simply buy new reagents and begin using them with out any sort of comparison can we??? Thanks for the help!

What I used to create our Blood Bank Quality System or Quality Manual is a publication from the AABB Press. It is titled "Quality Manual Preparation Workbook for Blood Banking", 2nd Edition. It comes with a workbook and a CD with templates already prepared for you, all you'll have to do is edit them to fit your institution. It was straight forward and very easy to do. ISBN #: 1-56395-204-1

Thanks again for everyone's help. I can once again know that I can count on my fellow blood bankers to help out. I've started the validation study and don't expect it to take very long at all. I don't know why I was stressing over such a simple change. thanks everyone!

I'm seeking some assistance in setting up our reagent validation study. We are switching our tube reagents Anti-A, Anti-B, and Anti-D only from one manufacturer to another. What all is required in this validation study? If anyone has a spreadsheet or template I could use, that would be greatly appreciated if you're willing to share. Thanks!

We are at the very begining stages of trying to get our ProVue interface up and running and we are already stuck? I'm working on this project with our lab LIS coordinator, and we are looking for some help from someone who is using Meditech Magic 5.62 or 5.63. Currently we are trying to find the upload / download codes from the ProVue. Would anyone know where to find these codes? Any help with this is greatly appreciated.

I can't thank everyone enough for their ideas and I'm glad that I wasn't off beat on my suggestions for my organization. I'm always looking for good suggestions on how to lower cost and increase efficiencies. Continuing with this topic then, My next question is how then does everyone label "screened, but not officially screened units" of their antigen typing. I was thinking if I got "unconfirmed" antigen negative labels for the typed units, that could assist with selecting units for the shifts following mine should the patient require additional units after I screened several. I'm curious how everyone else handles this in their processes? Secondly, I just want to make sure that I'm thinking correctly. When using a patient "screening plasma" would I simply treat it as a crossmatch and perform the testing through AHG phase or simply though the phase at which the antibody best reacts? If screening with GEL then, it would it be more appropriate to use the AHG phase using IgG cards, or should I screen using Buffer cards? Any help here is appreciated. Everyone on here is awsome, keep it coming!

1) I'm simply curious if it is an acceptable practice to save patients' plasma with a known Antibody to SCREEN for antigen negative units, then confirm (Test of Record) the antigen typing with our commercially purchased antiserum? If this an acceptable practice, how do we verify and control the screening plasma for use? I was thinking of running two positives and one negative qc with each run. The positives would be one heterzygous cell and one homozygous cell, where the graded results must be at least a 2+. Then my next question is how long is would this screening plasma be good for? I was thinking 2 months, or until the qc is not valid, which ever comes first. Any help with this process would be greatly appreciated. Any procedures that I could use as references, would also be greatly appreciated. This idea has cost saving benefits, but I'm just not sure how to implement it properly. 2) Is there a web site (bloodbanktalk.com or elsewhere) that Blood Banker can swap and share policies and procedures? I'm always looking for references, to help write policies or procedures. thanks for everyones willingness to share!!! Have a GREAT DAY!

With the current economic down turn I'm sure many healthcare organizations are in same position as ours. I have been asked to think of anything that will save money without compromising quality of care. I just want to start a thread of ideas on how Blood Banks specificaly can achieve these demands from our administrators. For example: we are exploring the option of stopping the use of the GEL method for unit retyping by reverting back to the TUBE method. What are some things you or your Blood Bank have done recently to save money?

We also follow the manufacturer insert as stated above.

Thanks, tbostock, so you don't think that this standard applies to those inpatients that may be discharged within a short time following a transfusion? We see this often on our oncology unit. A patient may be here for a day or two and the Doctor wants to discharge them following a transfusion. Or our Open Heart patients typically stay between 4-7 days and have received transfusions post-operatively the day befor they go home. I would think they should be sent home with instructions and what to look for. In these cases, what would sound like a good time to you for them to be considered unmonitored and would be required a discharged instruction sheet? Thank you for your help!

Would anyone be willing to share their organization's policy that covers this AABB Standard. " Specific written instructions concerning possible adverse events shall be provided to the patient or a responsible caregiver when direct medical observation or monitoring of the patient will not be available after transfusion." My question to everyone is... What is a good time frame for after a transfusion...12 hours, 24 hours, 48 hours??????? My next question is how do you handle your inpatient population with this standard? Thank you for your help!

I would consider myself as a new Blood Banker considering I have only been in my current position of Blood Bank Coordinator for approx. a year and half. Before that I was a Generalist for 8.5 years in a 150 bed hospital laboratory. It seems as if I learn something new about Blood Banking everyday! Our hospital uses Meditech Magic and we are on v. 5.62. We also are fortunite enough to have an Ortho ProVue. I recently found this web site / forum for Blood Bankers and think it's awesome. I'm currently interested in compiling a list of contacts that I (or our lab LIS Coordinator) could communicate with. Besides just being able to have a contact list, we are particularly interested in communicating with those folks that have an interface for their analyzer, those that are using Meditech's eTAR, and those that are using a bed side barcoded/scanning ID system? These are all currently items being considered for our Blood Bank, any help in pointing me in the right direction for information would be greatly appreciated. Thank you!

Could I please get a copy of your checklist as well? Your willingness to share is greatly appreciated and hope to return the favor some day.