I recently inherited the Blood bank supervisors job and am trying to get ready for our CAP inspection. I just found the inspector's summation report from the previous inspection. They recommended that we validate our cooler temperatures, which we are currently doing. They also recommended that we use temperatue indicators on units issued to ensure they have been properly maintained while in the cooler outside of the BB. My question is if we use Safe-T-Vue or other nonreversable temperature indicators do they have to be validated as well. It seems as if this is a never ending validation process which requires you to validate what ever it is that you used to validate whatever.

Thanks

Tony

I have seen a few responses to this question in the past . . . I use the HemoTemp II indicator. I validated them once. Someone suggested that they should be validated with every new lot, or once a month, or with every shipment . . . ad nauseam. I am not about to do that. I agree that validation has been taken to the utmost extreme of absurdity in many instances.

I may be mistaken, however, I thought Safe-T-Vue came with a validation sheet from the manufacturer in each box. I save mine each time I receive a shipment in case someone asks me how I know that the Safe-T-Vue is valid the same way I save NIST thermometer certificates.

Edited August 25, 200816 yr by pamann

We validate our coolers once a year, use Safe-T-Vue indicators on units going into the cooler. Like pamann I keep the sheet that comes with the indicators. If I'm the validator do I have to be validated too?????

I will start using the HemoTemp indicators in the next few months. I have been wondering what the easiest way to go about validation will be. It already seems like all I do is validate, so I don't want to spend any more time on this one than necessary. I would be very interested in hearing how you went about your validations, David.