MAGNUM

Ditto here. We verify with the RN or LVN here in the blood bank and then they likewise check with another nurse at the bedside. The antibody/antigen history is not readback or verified.

So Malcolm, if irradiation makes the red cells "leaky", why do we give our babies irradiated packed cells? Inquiring minds want to know.

We do the tach and speed every 6 months, and optimal spin times are done annually.

I got mine from Old Will Knott Scales. I bought the ProScale LCS100, and the 100gram calibration weight. All total I believe I paid $26.00 for all. www.oldwillknottscales.com

Is there a AABB reference for this?

YES

We repeat it each and every time. With the number of healthcare facilities in our area, we feel that the patient could have been transfused elsewhere and could possibly "create" new antibodies. Just being safe.

Very good article.

We separate ALL of our samples from the cells. I do not have reasoning for this, just that this is the way it has always been done here and also the way I was trained soooooooooooooo long ago.

I prefer to let the reference lab do them. I have been in the situation where you are the ONLY lab doing KB's, so you get all the stats from all the surrounding hospitals. That 2 am KB on a busy Saturday night with multiple traumas including "gun and knife club" business really makes one thank your lucky stars for reference labs that have a flow cytometer.

We send them out to our Blood Center reference lab, where they are actually done by flow cytometry now instead of the actual KB staining.

I use the transfusion sets from Charter with the inline filter.

Same for me, but my thermometers read in the .5 degrees.

Sounds kind of like Dr. McCoy and Mr. Spock on Star Trek. I THINK NOT ALSO.

We are on meditech 5.66 and have been using BCTA for approximately 3 years now. TAR is really an outdated term. BCTA (Bar-Code enabled Transfusion Administration) is the correct term to use in meditech. As far as I know, all the HCA hospitals use this.

YES.

We do pretransfusion vitals, 10 min after start, 30 min, then hourly. We know when the vitals are done because as they are performed they populate in the blood bank module.

Sorry but cannot help you, this is BB talk.

Oh the joys of blood banking.

Ditto 3

We use the Typenex bands, and it is the responsibility of the nurse to remove the old bands.

The only reason that we use expired bags is for the rare therapeutic phlebotomy that we perform.

we start with O Pos for males, females >50 years of age, and women without a uterus.

go to chapter 16 of the 9th edition of the AABB Technical Manual, specifically pages 310-315.

by all means, better safe than sorry next time you are surveyed.