can our transfusion service deny directed donations?

You could...but there might be repercussions from your clientele. I don't think there is a regulation that requires you to accept them.

We try to VERY strongly discourage them, but if your Medical Director will agree that he will not accept them, then you could probably get away with totally refusing them.

I agree with adiescast & tbostock, but.......I can see discouraging them, but I don't think it's a good idea to deny directed donations. If you denied the practice, and a patient (God forbid) contracted a transfusion-transmittable disease from the transfusion of a regular donor unit, I could see the possibility of a lawsuit. (Particularly if the patient presented evidence to the court that allowing directed donor units was a common practice among other institutions.)

Donna

Do you have a directed donation policy? It sounds like you do not . . . I agree with everyone else, try to discourage it. We used to charge $100 up front CASH administration fee for DDs (not an insurance payment). It helped discourage a lot of folks. It had to be paid prior to initiation of the donation process. Also, the pt's MD will have to order the DD - it is not a pt orderable action.

We also strongly discourage it. There are extra fees associated with DD's. Once we explain that and the time frames, meeting all donor requirements etc, that usually is the end of it. Our doctors don't even offer it as an option, the patient has to ask about it.

Do you have a directed donation policy? It sounds like you do not . . . I agree with everyone else, try to discourage it. We used to charge $100 up front CASH administration fee for DDs (not an insurance payment). It helped discourage a lot of folks. It had to be paid prior to initiation of the donation process. Also, the pt's MD will have to order the DD - it is not a pt orderable action.

we actually do have a policy in place--I am just evaluating the process since we will have ISBT in place and will need to build and revalidate the products.

We strongly discourage directed donations. The medical director of our blood supplier must speak with the patient/family making the request and will approve or deny the request. The only directed donations we have received in the past year were when the family did not go through our supplier. We were shipped the units by the other supplier.We felt like we had to accept these units as we did not want to upset the patient and his family.

Check your local regulations. Some states require that you offer and provide......

That's a good point, SMW. Thanks!