I am considering these coolers http://bloodtransport.us/Page3.html for transport between the blood bank/OR/ICU. Does anyone have experience with them? I need something that is compact and does not require wet ice. We recently started using Safe-T-Vue indicators on units that go up to our remote refrigerators and are having troubles with them coming back red. If we use this system, we would have the transporters remove the blood from the red outer carrier and put the units of blood enclosed in their gel packs into the remote refrigerators. That way, the gel would stay cold and be ready for transport. We would still use the Safe-T-Vue indicators on the blood. The red outer zip containers would stay in an area close to the refrigerator until it is time to put the blood back in them for transport.

I have sent numerous inquires to their email several months ago and have received no reply. Sounds like a great idea.

JB

We are using these wheeled coolers for transport to OR. http://www.thermosafe.com/subcategory/medical+transporters.html

Light weight, with wheels and handles. CFR 21 compliant. We validated for 18 hours. Comes with freezer packs and gel packs plus company provided validation. Good luck

Kate, what temperature did it reach at 18 hours?

Kate, I have those for transporting to my off-site for transfusion but wasn't sure how they would work for OR. Do you freeze the ice packs in the plasma freezer? I am having problems keeping the temp >1C with the freezer packs right out of the freezer. I only validated mine for 6 hours and they did well. I just worry about cleaning them in a bloody trauma.

We used data loggers to validate each cooler. We found we needed 3 frozen polar paks, 1 on the bottom, 1 each side, plus 2 refrigerated gel packs in the basket with the blood to maintain acceptable temps. Using only the frozen polar paks, they only held temp for 4 hours.

Inital temp 1.5C, 12 hour temp 4.5C, 18 hour temp 6C. We opened the cooler 3 times throughout the test to simulate getting the blood. We haven't have issues cleaning - we use a spray Virex TB.

We also use the Thermosafe transporters that Kate mentioned and performed a similar validation with a data logger. During validation, we found that the coolers held 1-6 degree temp for 4- 6 hours depending on how many units were in the transporter. So, we only issue the transporter for 4 hours at a time. We also found that when we used the transporter for only one unit of red cells (or a partial unit/aliquot), the unit dipped below one degree C. So when we issue it with only one unit, we remove the bottom freezer pack and only put the two on the sides. I am not familiar with the Transporter-r coolers Kathy.

I think I need to revalidate mine. I am having the problem with one unit going below 1C. I never thought to try it without the bottom pack. Luckily this is still a work in progress for me. I also couldn't reliably keep it under 6C for an extended period of time with multiple units. The supplied data only "guaranteed" for up to 6 hours so I used that as an end time and it is doing ok.

Minnesota Thermal has several sized coolers using their Thermal Isolation systems - all hold temps very well. The Thermal Isolation chambers (TICs) are much neater than the ice blocks. One suggestion - buy twice as many TICs as Igloos and you can "recharge" the TICs (in the freezer) and rotate them to the refrigerator for "conditioning" at a usable rate. If you only have as many TICs as you have Igloos - you can't recycle them fast enough.

http://www.credothermal.com/.

The small Golden Hour OR container is light and handy and holds temps for 4-8 hours, even with only 1 unit. They have 22C systems too for platelet transport (we have one of these too) and can even manage frozen FFP transport, but I have never seen any of those. They also work with a company that sells dataloggers and that can service and recalibrate them over time.

Kate, I have those for transporting to my off-site for transfusion but wasn't sure how they would work for OR. Do you freeze the ice packs in the plasma freezer? I am having problems keeping the temp >1C with the freezer packs right out of the freezer. I only validated mine for 6 hours and they did well. I just worry about cleaning them in a bloody trauma.

We had the same problem with the temp going below 1C. Thermosafe validated the coolers using packs that were "conditioned at -20C +/- 5C for 24 hours. Since our plasma freezer is always -28C or colder I figured that was the problem so we now keep our cold packs in another departments freezer that is -18C to -20C. This has worked and has validated fine although having to go to another dept. for the packs is a nuisance. Fortuanately we don't often have to use the coolers.

We are looking at getting series 4 EMT containers from Minnesota Thermal for our air transport but see that for blood they are to be charged at -18C for 24 hrs then charged another 24 hrs at 4C. Does anyone use these? I worry that the process is too complicated and we will freeze the blood.

We use the Minn Thermal OR containers. The thermal isolation chamber (TIC) has to be "charged" in a -18C freezer for at least 8 hours and then "conditioned" in the refrigerator - but only until all frost is gone from the outsides. I bought twice as many TICs (14) as I have carriers (7 Igloos) so they can stay in the freezer long enough. Then we keep 4 in the frig so one is always ready to go. We rotate the ones in the freezer (returned ones to the back - frozen ones to the front) and we rotate the ones in the frig (frozen at the back - thawed at the front). This has worked very well for several years now. The secret is having the extra TICs.

If the EMT TICs require some kind of longer refrigerator conditioning - you might want to consider the OR container. I am not familiar with some of their newer product lines. I don't remember any product that had to condition in the refrigerator 24 hours too.