Matchead09

AABB Standard 5.23 Issue of Blood and Blood Components
At the time a unit is issued, there shall be a final check of transfusion service records and each unit of blood an blood component. Verification shall include:
(a list of items)
6) The date and time of issue.
 
We record this electronically with a back-up (or down-time substitute) in the form of a sheet of paper signed by nurse and blood bank tech at time of issue.

AABB Standard 5.23 Issue of Blood and Blood Components
At the time a unit is issued, there shall be a final check of transfusion service records and each unit of blood an blood component. Verification shall include:
(a list of items)
6) The date and time of issue.
 
We record this electronically with a back-up (or down-time substitute) in the form of a sheet of paper signed by nurse and blood bank tech at time of issue.

AABB Standard 5.23 Issue of Blood and Blood Components
At the time a unit is issued, there shall be a final check of transfusion service records and each unit of blood an blood component. Verification shall include:
(a list of items)
6) The date and time of issue.
 
We record this electronically with a back-up (or down-time substitute) in the form of a sheet of paper signed by nurse and blood bank tech at time of issue.

I think David is right, standard 5.12 is under the heading "Transfusion Service-Related Activities" which I think makes it pretty explicit that the transfusing facility is responsible for this confirmation prior to transfusion. Standard 5.12.1 states discrepancies must be reported to the collecting facility, implying that it is not the collecting facility that is performing the confirmation. All the computer systems I've seen for blood bank have a transitional status for red cells that requires the retype to be performed prior to the units being available for crossmatch.

We recently looked at x-ray irradiators, they seem to run about $250,000-$275,000 with service agreements that cost an additional $1,500-$2,000 per month. Financing is possible putting the cost around $7,000 per month with service agreements for the first 5 years and then just the service agreement after that. We're currently paying about $9,000 a month for irradiation service from our supplier, but irradiating would mean we would need licensure as a manufacturer, which we do not currently have. So, for the moment we decided to sit pat and see how our irradiation needs change over time before making a decision. One irradiator we looked at was very self contained, the other required a water input of very precise specification as a cooling element.