MicheleKay

An eluate is done if the baby's DAT is positive NOT due to an ABO incompatibilty. Also if the mother has a known antibody and the DAT is positive an eluate is done....

For those of you who think the Galileo is gigantic, I don't know if you are aware, but Immucor does have a "mini" Galileo they exhibited at the 2005 AABB. I'm not sure if it's available to purchase yet, but it does exist and it is NICE! Keep a look out......

In addition to the Rad-Sure and the "Irradiated by..." sticker we also have a sticker to place over the original product description. This is done because the unit is being modified. This was brought to our attention a few years ago by one of the many inspections. I don't recall, b/c I'm just the technologist. For example....CPDA1-Leukoreduced Red Cells now becomes Irradiate CPDA1-Leukoreduced Red Cells with the all the same information listed underneath ...."From 450 mL CPDA1 Whole Blood Store at 1-6'C. We by no means CROSS off any supplier information!!

We give group O until the baby is over 4 months. After 4 months if the neonate is still in the hospital we request a type and screen and then give type specific. However, if a designated unit was available for the neonate we follow a different protocol.

We have Cerner also. It's okay...just okay! It is not compatible with the hospital's system which makes it so difficult and frustrating to communicate with the entire institution. There are so many unneccessary phone calls b/c the floors and outpatient clinics can not view any results. It makes things very chaoitic on our end. As far as result entering and actual blood banking it's okay. There are flags that the system will default to if a unit is not antigen typed and a patient has an anitbody. It will also alert you of an ABO incompatible unit before dispensing. The only problem is techs have to be careful not to be so "enter" happy or else you can enter right through.

Just curious....are you using trip scales or blood collection mixers? Our donor room uses collection mixers and they seem have no problem with QNS units. However, I do not have ALL their statistics, but I did ask!!

On the day shift there rare oughly 12 techs when fully staffed. Each tech QC's their own rack identified by a rack # each day and records it on a QC sheet and placed in a binder. When the next shift comes in, they acquire a rack QC'd from the the day shift, but they have to fill out their own sheet and compare with the previous tech's sheet. This eliminates opened vials with different lot numbers that can occur throughout the day. If a 2nd shift tech finds a new lot number from what was recorded in the morning he/she has to QC just that vial. All other information is written and a notation stating "QC'd by So-and So" is written on their QC sheet.

Does the question ask in part of the country did you stay? Or ask for a specific town, village, city, etc.? Can you add this to your question that is on the screener? Attach an insert in the screener as a reminder so the question is asked!!! Conduct a more extensive training session with your screeners to express the importance of this.

We have a "change of shift book" where all pending information is logged in. We have one person, we refer to as the "floater" who distribiutes the work load throughout the day ensuring all orders are processed and flow nicely. Usually that person is designated to review all the tasks and either look into themself or assign techs to do them. The techs responisble for the loose ends are referred to as the "circulators." Each shift has a "circulator." These techs handle majority of component orders, dispensing, additional xm's, answering the phones, doctor notifications, inventory orderes, etc. which frees up the other techs to process the specimens and any antibody problems that arise. They are also supposed to relay any messages to the next shift. As each task is completed that tech will sign off on it in the "change of shift book." This usually targets and individual to "blame" if the job was either done wrong or not done at all!!!!! But of course we try to be a TEAM and everyone is responsible and capable of making sure the "change of shift book" is cleaned up at the end of their shift.

32387: I looked that particular syringe up online and noticed that it's not compatible with a sterile connecting device which prompts you to enter the bag causing an open system. It seems that by attaching a pedi-bag and then drawing off into the syringe you are doing too many steps. Not to mention not maximizing your usage of the main component. I find this way to be a little too wasteful. Thanks for the info though, very helpful!!

We do direct entry also in Cerner!! Hate Cerner b/c only pathology uses Cerner. The rest of the hospital uses "Last Word." So imagine all the confusion b/c noone is onthe same system!!! We used to review the previous days worksheets and manually make cards for new patients and updated patient histories to use as a back-up. But we recently did away with the card file and now either everyday or each week the sytem is backed up on the hard drive and if we need to access something we can pull it up on a main computer just for this purpose. Otherwise we rely on "PTC" (patient comments) field for special requests like irradiation, known AB's, LRF, CMV=, and most important..BMT's while performing TX's and dispensing.

I believe the minimum/maximum collection of either Optisol/Adsol is +/- 10% of the volume of the bag you chose to collect in, 450 or 500mL. So if you are collecting in a 450mL bag then your min/max volume would be 405 or 495mL and the same goes for the 500mL bag, 450 or 550mL. Are you using a blood collection mixer that has a preset volume to assist you in your collection? It makes it alot easier!!

Is anyone using a pediatric syringe for neonatal transfusions? Do you like it? What don't you like about it? Are there different types? We're thinking about switching, but I think the neonatal unit dictates the final decision. Something about the transfusion pumps....Anyone know anything about these pumps?

I hate PEG....alot of Anti-Junk.....especially b/c of the scratchy rx's people tend to over read!!

I agree with David! All it is is an ABID. Why would an alternate proficiency be needed. At my facility we used to perform a warm adsorption 3x (depending on strength of reaction 3+,4+) before we decided to send it out to a bigger reference lab that had alternate procedures we didn't have. Majority of the time it was drug induced and no underlying AB's were present...but of course in BBing we can't always assume these things!! Why involve another facility and set yourself up for more SOPs and blah.. blah.. blah....