Does your facility utilize a pneumatic tube system to issue crossmatched blood / blood products? If so, what is your dispensing policy?

If you go to Transfusion Services and do a search for "pneumatic tube" you will find to other posts that should answer most of your questions.

Here is the link to that thread :handshake

http://www.bloodbanktalk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=190

We issue ours in the computer to the unit it is going to. They must then return an assigned card signed with signature, date and time received in that unit. These cards are kept with the returned transfusion data.

The Nursing Unit will call the blood bank when they want blood/products for a patient. They must provide us with the patient name, Medical Record Number and the blood bank Identification (wristband) number. We document the information along with the caller's name and location. We have a sign out log where we record the information, then we tube the product. We call after the product is tubed to let the nurse know the product is tubed, document the name of the individual that we called. Then we issue the product in the computer. We just went up on the computer system and we're making a determination as to whether we want to eliminate the sign out log.

We've also developed a form that we send with the blood that is returned to us when the product is removed from the tube to meet the CAP requirement for tubing blood.

What is the CAP requirement for tubing blood?