EDibble

We have used the cooler method for many years. The OR staff has gotten pretty good about keeping an eye on the cooler, and not "losing" it. Once in a great while we have to make a few phone calls, but we haven't had any problems with blood being returned that cannot be put back into the inventory. :winner: :winner:

We got our Hemobioscience chart today. It is wonderful! Thanks so much. :handshake:handshake:handshake:handshake:handshake:handshake:handshake:handshake

This may not be much help, but we only use the separate wrist band in two circumstances: at Outpatient facilities for folks getting an outpatient transfusion in our interventional unit, and for trauma patients whose treatment cannot wait for them to be registered into the computer system. Either a phlebotomist or a tech apply the band and label the tubes. in the case that a patient's name is known, (the outpatient transfusion, or a trauma patient with identification), perfect spelling and DOB matches are required. Sometimes a trauma patient is only "Jane" or "John Doe", so that and the band number are the identifiers. Since only lab trained personell use the bands, we rarely if ever have had any problems.

We do the same as Gkloc, but for a 14 day period. I believe the 14 days corresponds to a time frame that many orthopedic surgeons use for some of their testing. It allows many patients to just come in the one time. We have a form with the two questions regarding transfusion and/or pregnancy. The patient and the interviewer sign, and it goes on their chart.

Yep, "3 days" here too.

Nancy and Terri, Good Luck!

Our billing numbers for out patients are good for three days for the same service. So any lab work, including BB, can be done the day after the blood is drawn with no problem.

OK, I will bring this up to " 'da boss". :salute:

Thanks! Hey, my hubby and I will be in the UK in April. Haven't been there in 26 years. I'd like to travel in the west country for a bit before going into London, any secret "gems" of places to visit?

My supervisor and I both refer to this site as "blood bank crack" because it is so addicting, but in a really good way. I have learned so much from all of you, and love to contribute in my own little way. :blowkiss::blowkiss:

:blowkiss::blowkiss::blowkiss::blowkiss:My supervisor and I both refer to this site as "blood bank crack" because it is so addictiong, but in a really good way. I have learned so much from all of you, and love to contribute in my own little way.

We got "dinged" by AABB the last time because we were not moving the thermometer with any regularity and recording different wells. Funny, because we hadn't done it for the 25 previous years I have worked here. We recently ditched the heating block as it was only our backup to a water bath which is a backup for our capture method. We have mothballed it, and will only bring it out if we need to. As to breaking thermometers, we are switching over to digital ones. Much easier to read and no breakage!

We do call other facilities, especially when there are puzzling results that more information can help solve. We have patients tell us that they have never been transfused (I should say, they tell their nurse when we ask them to gather more info for us), only to find out that that is not the case when we call the facility where they had been treated in the past. We have been gathered invaluable information that way. We recently had a patient that we found three antibodies on, only to find that another facility had identified another one a few years ago. It was no longer reacting! We may have saved the patient a delayed transfusion reaction by finding out about that fourth antibody. And, no, we have never had a problem getting the info. We give out info to other facilities when asked as well.

I had the same reaction as Donna. Especially if the patient had been recently transfused, they could just be beginning to make an IgM of a significant antibody.

Whoops! That is Terri, not Teri.

I know for certain that they do glucose and PT/INR testing.

Teri, I echo your sentiments exactly. I am more and more certain as time goes on that laboratorians have a different type of brain than nursing staff. So many of these folks just "don't get it" and cut corners when doing POC testing. Thank goodness our QA supervisor oversees the POC in our hospital.

:oWe do both Fetal Screen and KB in Blood Bank. We also issue the Rhogam.

We often get 25 to 30 units at a time from ARC. My procedure is to put the box at my feet, and pull three or four units out at a time, replacing the bag of ice on top of the remaining units and closing the box. Those three or four units are entered into the computer inventory, checked against the packing slip, and the segments for testing are pulled. Then those units are put into the fridge. The process is repeated, until all units are entered. The units out of the box at any given time are always processed in three to four minutes, staying plenty cold. As soon as the units are entered into the computer, the confirmatory testing is done and those results entered. The units are now available for crossmatching.

Yes, I had a situation a few weeks ago where the nurse said "The doctor wants to keep transfusing units until there is a unit that doesn't cause a reaction." Yipes. I told her in the nicest possible way (we always have to try to do that, right?" that that really wasn't a possible scenario. Could we please do the workup and then go from there? ::Sigh::

We used to have a "Standing Order List" but the transfusion committee discontinued it's use several years ago. So many docs had their own ideas of what they wanted set up for their surgeries, that we go on a case by case basis. Most of them stay within certain limits (T&S and either one unit or two for a hip replacement as an example) but, of course, if the situation warrants it, they may order more. The patient has a bleeding history, is in bad shape generally etc. Our facility has had good luck with this. We do monitor the OR list ahead of time, and do inquire if a procedure that normally has pre-op work seems to have been missed.

We do the same: Type and Screen at 26 weeks.

:boogie::boogie::boogie:We do the baby's cord first. If Rh neg, weak D neg, we put a comment on the chart that the baby is Rh neg and mom does not need Rhogam. If baby is Rh pos, we have the floor order a "post partum Rhogam workup" which includes Type and Rh, Antibody Screen, Fetal Screen, and the Rhogam unit. If the Fetal Screen is positive, we order a KB, which Blood Bank does not Heme. We then give out the correct number of Rhogam units based on the fetal / maternal cell ratio. We here in the Blood Bank determine the number of doses of Rhogam to give. We also do a KB during pregnancy for any trauma to the mom. Prenatal doses are almost always given in the office, after we have done the Type and Screen here.

;)That was going to be my response as well Malcolm.

Welcome! I hope Spring is nice down in Oz.