Good morning!

I wasn't sure which section was the best for this discussion but hopefully people will find it here. I'm over training/education/competency for our market which includes 15+ facilities ranging from stand-alone ED to a level 1 trauma center that acts as a reference lab for all of the other facilities except one. We are trying to develop one system that would work for us all. 

So, my questions/topics for discussion:

1. Do you perform an initial competency at the end of training or as part of training?

2. Does each test system have its own checklist for training? Ex.: Automation, ABO/Rh, use of irradiator, weak D, etc

3. Do any of you have a similar situation with trying to standardize across a system or market?

4.Do any of you include critical control points in your training plans?

5. Would anyone be willing to share their forms/SOPs here?

Thanks!

 

Edited January 15Jan 15 by Jane
added more info

54 minutes ago, Jane said:

Good morning!

I wasn't sure which section was the best for this discussion but hopefully people will find it here. I'm over training/education/competency for our market which includes 15+ facilities ranging from stand-alone ED to a level 1 trauma center that acts as a reference lab for all of the other facilities except one. We are trying to develop one system that would work for us all. 

So, my questions/topics for discussion:

1. Do you perform an initial competency at the end of training or as part of training?

The way I did it, the new tech (either new grad, or new to our facility) would get trained on fake, then real specimens.  The real specimens would be under constant supervision of the person assigned to train them.  There were documented criteria for who could train them.  Let's say it was a type and screen.  Once their training checklist was signed off, then they had their competency in that item.  That was reviewed by the Training Senior Tech, a Supervisor, the Medical Director, then we allowed them to perform that test independently.

2. Does each test system have its own checklist for training? Ex.: Automation, ABO/Rh, use of irradiator, weak D, etc

For us, yes.  We did our best to combine items such as type and screen, and equipment maintenance.  If they needed to do equipment maintenance first thing in the AM, then they got that training combined at the same time.

3. Do any of you have a similar situation with trying to standardize across a system or market?

We did not; however, I do offer a word of caution when it comes to PT testing.  Many techs have more than one job, you need to be very careful when assigning techs PT specimens to ensure they have not worked on them under a different CLIA certificate.

4.Do any of you include critical control points in your training plans?

I'm not sure what you mean here.  If we gave them five specimens, at least one or two would have a positive antibody screen, or a mixed blood type (we had a very complex lab), and the tech was expected to identify those correctly, or their training would continue.

5. Would anyone be willing to share their forms/SOPs here?

We had almost 100 documents, I cannot share those, plus the are now in MediaLab and likely changed significantly since I worked at that organization.

Thanks!

 

See my answers above.

Thanks @Cliff! 

Critical control points would be steps in the procedure where you have the most issues/failures. For example, you've had FDA reportables where you received a release form from the floor with the product requested correctly but you sign out a different product that the patient has ready. You might want to mention this in your training process. I do this but there is no formal policy or procedure for it.

2 minutes ago, Jane said:

Thanks @Cliff! 

Critical control points would be steps in the procedure where you have the most issues/failures. For example, you've had FDA reportables where you received a release form from the floor with the product requested correctly but you sign out a different product that the patient has ready. You might want to mention this in your training process. I do this but there is no formal policy or procedure for it.

I'm retired, so no more policies for me. 

While what you say makes sense, and is logical to include in your training, I am not aware of a requirement for it.  It was always a balance between adding more elements to the training plans, and getting staff trained, competent, and working.

I ran a large facility, and we were always understaffed by about 8 people, that's a lot out of 42 FTEs.

See the attached.

SCHS Initial Training Checklist 2023.doc

Edited January 18Jan 18 by Mabel Adams

The lab I worked at was CAP accredited and CAP does not require initial competency.  Our organization was standardized with the assessment documents and some training documents.