Second Sample for ABO/Rh for Patients w/o Historical Record

Sorry, I should have posted this topic in a different forum. Please follow it in the "Transfusion Services" forum, if you are interested.

We are about to implement the second sample requirement for ABO/Rh for patients without historical records. AABB hosted an audioconference on this topic some time last year, and again stressed this during its recent audioconference on changes to the 30th ed of the Standards. We have piloted a small subsection of our hospital for a few months, and are implementing the system hospital-system wide. Previously for a patient without a historical ABO/Rh, we just had a second tech repeat the ABO/Rh with different reagents. Now when we get a T/S sample from a patient without a historical ABO/Rh, we send back to the floor the request (and a tube!) for a second sample. The pilot was relatively pain-free; how well this works with the rest of the hospital, we will have to see. For instance, we had one nurse draw two samples at the same time to "facilitate the process," but unfortunately the process requires two separate phlebotomies. :-(

Our issue is this: our transfusion service also supplies blood to a couple of small hospitals that do not have their own blood banks; we receive PAT (preadmission testing) samples via courier and send crossmatched units on the day of surgery by courier. We do not accept "outside" records and our MISs are not integrated, so we will likely need second samples for most of these patients on the day of surgery. Is there anyone dealing with the same issue? What strategies have you implemented, or are you considering?

Edited April 1, 20169 yr by woebegone1997
wrong forum