In a past job, we eliminated all bleach from the blood bank.  In my current job, bleach is EVERYWHERE!  We use bleach wipes to clean the counters, and the cell washers and saline bottles are disinfected with bleach weekly. I know there is evidence that it can denature the S antigen, but how serious of a threat is this?  Do I need to put a stop to the bleach?  My guts says yes.

 

If you don't bleach how do you clean/disinfect the cell washers and saline bottles?  At my past job, I don't think we EVER cleaned the saline bottles, we just kept refilling them and never had any issue with contamination.  I don't see any requirement in the equipment manual to bleach the cellwashers either.  I'm sure I'll get a lot of push-back if I say we don't need to do any decontamination.  

 

thanks!

 

 

 

 

In a past job, we eliminated all bleach from the blood bank.  In my current job, bleach is EVERYWHERE!  We use bleach wipes to clean the counters, and the cell washers and saline bottles are disinfected with bleach weekly. I know there is evidence that it can denature the S antigen, but how serious of a threat is this?  Do I need to put a stop to the bleach?  My guts says yes.

 

If you don't bleach how do you clean/disinfect the cell washers and saline bottles?  At my past job, I don't think we EVER cleaned the saline bottles, we just kept refilling them and never had any issue with contamination.  I don't see any requirement in the equipment manual to bleach the cellwashers either.  I'm sure I'll get a lot of push-back if I say we don't need to do any decontamination.  

 

thanks!

 Yes -definitely get rid of the bleach! Also - bleaching plastic saline bottles may cause chemicals to leach out of the plastic - who knows how that would affect your testing! 

In a past job, we eliminated all bleach from the blood bank.  In my current job, bleach is EVERYWHERE!  We use bleach wipes to clean the counters, and the cell washers and saline bottles are disinfected with bleach weekly. I know there is evidence that it can denature the S antigen, but how serious of a threat is this?  Do I need to put a stop to the bleach?  My guts says yes.

 

If you don't bleach how do you clean/disinfect the cell washers and saline bottles?  At my past job, I don't think we EVER cleaned the saline bottles, we just kept refilling them and never had any issue with contamination.  I don't see any requirement in the equipment manual to bleach the cellwashers either.  I'm sure I'll get a lot of push-back if I say we don't need to do any decontamination.  

 

thanks!

 

Our Helmer cellwasher system flush requires a bleach solution. The ProVue also requires a monthly disinfection that uses bleach.

We only use bleach wipes for the counters (hospital requirement) and a little bit for the sink after we dump our analyzer waste (manufacturer's recommendation).

 

We clean our saline bottles with 70% isopropyl alcohol and rinse profusely with saline before use.

 

I would not use bleach anywhere where it could compromise detection of Anti-S.

For our Helmer Cellwasher I obtained a letter from the company verifying that the RelyOn Disinfectant tabs we use for the Immucor Galileo Echo is acceptable for the cellwaher as well. That also allows use to use the tabs up before they expire. Win-win!

For our Helmer Cellwasher I obtained a letter from the company verifying that the RelyOn Disinfectant tabs we use for the Immucor Galileo Echo is acceptable for the cellwaher as well. That also allows use to use the tabs up before they expire. Win-win!

I'm going to check into this...good tip.

We only use bleach to clean the Provue monthly.  We use the disinfectant wipes supplied by the organization and these are used throughout the hospital.

 

They do not contain bleach and are excellent in cleaning up spills.  I don't know the name of the mfgr.  Once we moved to these we've never gone back to bleach for the cleaning the benches.

We only use bleach to clean the Provue monthly.  We use the disinfectant wipes supplied by the organization and these are used throughout the hospital.

 

They do not contain bleach and are excellent in cleaning up spills.  I don't know the name of the mfgr.  Once we moved to these we've never gone back to bleach for the cleaning the benches.

We had to go back to bleach wipes because of Ebola.  Even though the entire country is now Ebola free. 

I followed Sandy Jo's lead and asked tech support at ThermoFisher about how to disinfect.  I was going to attach the document they sent me that says 70% alcohol is OK, but I can't figure out how.  Help?!

Hi Sandy Jo,

Can you share the Helmer letter to use RelyOn? I work in the Middle East and do not have access to a Helmer rep.

Thank you.

^{We run our saline bottles through the dishwasher process that is used for Chemistry's glassware. We have not had any issues with contamination.}

We use bleach to decontaminate our cell washers and then run a pH before putting them back into use.