Hi,

Would anyone be able to comment on how their donor center handles information if a donor discloses during eligibility that they have donated pheresis platelets at another location?

(Note, we're not too concerned with RBC containing products....specifically we're looking to see how other centers address platelet donations.)

So, for tracking 8 week cell loss values and the number of donations/volume loss in a 12 month period ~ to what extent do you further obtain and document information about those pheresis donations for the purposes of tracking in your facility? Do you use a default value, require specifics, or maybe not include it at all?

Any input would be greatly appreciated ...

For the most part, we try to obtain as much information as possible from the donor, i.e., type of apheresis equiptmet, if red cells were returned, number of donations and last date of donation. From that, we can determine a estimate of what red cell/plasma loss the donor has experienced in their time away. When in doubt we can use default values that are pretty conservative.

Another related question--as far as tracking the cumulative plasma loss and rbc loss, what record-keeping tool do you use-or does your computer system do this rolling total for you?

Does the Blood Bank Medical Director review the labs from your apheresis donors, and if so-how often?

Currently we are tracking red cell/plasma loss manually on paper. In about 2 months we will be implementing the Vista Information System. Vista will track red cell/plasma loss as well as number of donations in a rolling 12 month period.

Our supervisors perform a review of donor charts with each donation and will notify the Medical Director if any abnormal results are seen.