Is anyone out there getting a transfusion (not crossmatch) order across the computer? We have wanted to capture the actual order to transfuse the blood and have not found a good way to do it. Right now the doctor writes the order to transfuse on the chart and nursing comes to pick up the blood.

Thanks!

We send products to an outpatient transfusion clinic (part of our facility). The doctor "activates" the order to transfuse and the order prints out in the blood bank. We use this to issue the product. We then send it through the pneumatic tube system.

This is part of a home grown system, and the coding was obviously customized for us. I'm not sure if off the shelf systems have this capability, but if you have a large IS department, maybe you can work with them?

We have the nursing unit enter the transfusion orders into the computer as "add ons". This way the orders are in Meditech but they don't generate new requisitions. The add on order prints out in the lab. In order to pick up the blood, they still must have a request form with all the patient information.

We use Meditech and have a "transfuse" order, in addition to the crossmatch order. Both print out in BBK, so we know which ones will be given and which are holds.

:judge:Due to a nurse giving blood instaed of platelets, our hospital safety committee wants to start sending us a copy of the physician's order to transfuse so both the person picking up the component and the Blood Bank Tech have to verify that it is the correct product. Does anyone else do this?

I am worried that the order to transfuse more than one product will be on the same paper and cause phone calls, etc. I hope they are not trying to "share" the blame.