Hi all,

Just got a phone call today from our local nursing home. She wants us to be their "supplier" so they can do the blood transfusions right there in their facility.

This will save the patient a ton of discomfort. This will help reduce the number of non-emergency admissions.

My problem is I do not know where to start to do some research for my manager.

My manager did mention something about having a different designation because we would technically be a supplier. I didn't see anything in the Standards. So I figure I am just not looking in the right place.

Any suggestions on how, or if , we can accomodate them? Anyone have any procedures they wouldn't mind sharing with me?

Thanks in advance for any and all ideas.

Melissa

You may want to take a look at a earlier thread on the same topic:

http://www.pathlabtalk.com/forum/showthread.php?6399-Providing-crossmatched-blood-to-be-transfused-outside-of-our-organization

Get your legal dept, risk management, pathologist and billing people involved. This is too large of a task for just the Blood Bank to handle and is a multi-faceted project.

Lots of moving parts in this thing, don't forget to check your state regs too. I did a similar project several years ago for a patient who was to be "transfused at his home". We managed to get it accomplished but wow, was it a lot of work. Lots of patient safety, liability, documentation pieces to this.

Good luck, remember, don't operate in a vacuum and document every conversation you have with everybody. This site will be extremely helpful too. Good Luck:)

Yes, I agree with checking your state regs. In NY state, they would need to apply to be a limited transfusion service...tons of paperwork.

Also keep in mind transport and storage issues, etc. How products will monitored, nursing competencies...lots of things to consider.