Hello-

what is aabb looking for if a patient has to be shipped out with blood products hanging or boxed up, does anyone have a policy written to that effect and do you require the blood tag to be returned to you filled out.

Thanks

If the unit is hanging when the pt left we consider it "transfused". If just sent in a box it is handled like a "transfer out of BB".

Lots of communication with the ED's and the receiving BB's is essential to getting product final dispositon correct.

We do not require the tag to be returned but sometimes we do get it back. We don't have an official policy actually written, good idea though.

Very similar situation here as Likewine99 describes. We have a limited number of hospitals we usually deal with from our smaller facility. Most are great at helping us with a final disposition of the blood including whether anything triggering a reaction workup occurred. Nursing here is very good at documenting on the nursing transfusion sheet the fact the unit left with the patient. This makes my life easier on the rare occasion I need to follow up with the receiving facility for information.