My blood supplier is telling me that if we divide red blood cells in an open system(aka not using a sterile docking device to attach a satellite bag), the Product Description code must change as well as the Division code. This is to reflect that the product is now OPEN supposedly. I cannot find any mention of this in the literature I've read and Mediware support tells me that dividing red blood cells is hard coded to change only the Division code.

Is there anyone who can verify or disprove that the Product Description code must change if dividing red blood cells in an open system?

My blood supplier is telling me that if we divide red blood cells in an open system(aka not using a sterile docking device to attach a satellite bag), the Product Description code must change as well as the Division code. This is to reflect that the product is now OPEN supposedly. I cannot find any mention of this in the literature I've read and Mediware support tells me that dividing red blood cells is hard coded to change only the Division code.

Is there anyone who can verify or disprove that the Product Description code must change if dividing red blood cells in an open system?

This is mentioned on page 34 of a document called, Use of Product Code Data Structure [003] - Blood, which is found on the ICCBBA website (go to the ICCBBA website home page, then Tech Library, then ICCBBA documents, then Blood Documents, then select the second document down). In an example of how to handle a divided product, it states, "For example: Red Blood Cells from a volunteer donor have the Product Code E0164V00. If you perform a single first level division, the resulting aliquots will be E0164VA0 and E0164VB0. If you further divide product E0164VB0 into three syringe aliquots (an open system), the resulting second level subdivisions will be: E0158VBa, E0158VBb, and E0158VBc. Notice that the Product Description Code changed from E0164 to E0158 because the "Open System" attribute was added. See Figure 7."

So, yes, the information you received from your blood supplier is correct. It is important to code the product as "open system" because the expiration date will change to 24 hours instead of the original outdate of the product (vs. a divided product made in a closed system which will retain the original expiration date). Computer systems can be set up to assign the shorter expiration date to an "open system" product, but only if the product description code changes.

While this was not the answer I was hoping for, I thank you very much for this reply and pointing me in the direction of this document.

Pat to the ISBT rescue again! What would we do without her?