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On ‎4‎/‎11‎/‎2018 at 5:46 AM, Cliff said:

FDA and AABB had gone back and forth over the years on storage vs transport.  In the past few "Ask the FDA" sessions I've been at during the AABB Annual meetings both FDA and AABB have said coolers are transport.  People even brought up newer cooler technology reminding them that coolers can be out of the blood bank for an extended time.

We validate our coolers to hold temp at 1 - 6.  We do not take temps every 4 hours.

I thought the only reason we were driving ourselves crazy (in the US) trying to get everything down to 1-6C was because the FDA (at least) has determined that coolers moving blood around in the hospital are considered "storage" - not transport (1-10C).  Have they changed their minds again - officially?? 

Oh - we have a Credo set of coolers for our OR and floor use - they have worked very well for us.  But darn-- it never even crossed my mind about taking the temps every 4 hours - now we are going to have to look at that.  We seldom get units back, except from OR, and that is usually within 4 hours, but still.......   Thanks for the heads up. 

Hello Everyone! 

In the brochures for max q they say chilled plasma. We only store just thawed warm plasma (to avoid excess waste we thaw plasma when ordered.) Has anyone done any validation with just thawed plasma? Does the cooler cool it down to acceptable range in 4 hours?

 

Thank you

Edited August 20, 20195 yr by ninachka224

On 8/28/2017 at 6:36 AM, Carrie Easley said:

We switched f/ an in-house created/validated Igloo system to MaxQ.  We love them!  They are plastic, so we can decontaminate after each use.  When we did our validation, we maintained temp for > 24 hours in rooms @ 22, 65 (heart room), & 85 (trauma room) degrees.  The lid is hinged, so it swings closed if someone forgets.  We use a saline bag connected to a digital thermometer that sits in a pouch on the lid.  This allows someone to constantly see the internal temp.  We issue up to 6 PRBC/cooler, but it would probably hold more.  I do think that they mentioned an upcoming upgrade w/ remote temp monitoring, so you might wait for that... I attached a Word doc that we used for PCS education.  It shows pics of how the units are packed.

New Blood Coolers.docx 856.51 kB · 72 downloads

Hi Carrie,

Can you please tell me where you got the empty blood bag?

Thank you,

Nina

2 hours ago, ninachka224 said:

Hi Carrie,

Can you please tell me where you got the empty blood bag?

Thank you,

Nina

They are just 400 mL transfer bags made by Charter Medical.  Item # T3104

You should also just check with your blood distribution center.  They should be able to supply you with some empty bags.  If you do not need an ongoing supply, they should be able to help with what you would need for validations - primary and ongoing.  We store our "phantoms" in the frig and I have had them for years now.

I'm currently the BB interim in our hospital lab, unfortunately the previous lead left without any endorsement, so I'm really starting from scratch. Days before she left, new coolers just showed up that was validated year ago, I couldn't find her documentation for validation. It is max plus cooler for prbc that has rollers. What coolant comes with it and how many refrigerated and frozen it needs? Thanks  

On 3/28/2018 at 9:53 AM, tkakin said:

Would your freshly thawed plasma warm up your red cells, if they are in the same cooler? I am in the process of changing coolers from transport to storage. 

I have MaxQ MTP coolers.  I have validated them for 6 rbc, 6, FFP and up to 2 RT items i the front pouch with an insulated bubble wrap liner.   It will validate with 6 warm FFP in the section next to 6 RBCs.  The RBCs never even notice.  Good for 12 hrs 1-6C for ease of expiration calculation.

On 2/25/2023 at 4:04 PM, Bren said:

I'm currently the BB interim in our hospital lab, unfortunately the previous lead left without any endorsement, so I'm really starting from scratch. Days before she left, new coolers just showed up that was validated year ago, I couldn't find her documentation for validation. It is max plus cooler for prbc that has rollers. What coolant comes with it and how many refrigerated and frozen it needs? Thanks  

The MaxQ have thin light blue panels.  You can do refrigerated or frozen depending on how you validate.  My current facility I validated using all frozen for best temp charts.  Previous facilities I used 2 fridge, 3 frozen to get the same time.  Might depend on a lot of things.  One place was at sea level an super humid, one was 6200 ft altitude and super dry....not sure if that makes the difference.  I think MaxQ recommends the fridge and frozen panels b/c the inside is stickered as such but I couldn't validate these that way for whatever reason.  All frozen is easier to remember so I'm not mad about it.

You can always email the vendor for more info.

We have MaxQ as well, an they're calibrated for up to 24 hours.

Does anyone have a policy for returning freshly thawed plasma to inventory after issuing in one of these MTP coolers? We apply Safe-T-Vue irreversible temp monitors to each unit of RBCs and thawed refrigerated plasma, but are unable to apply those to plasma that's still warm. 

19 minutes ago, Jessica Reed said:

Does anyone have a policy for returning freshly thawed plasma to inventory after issuing in one of these MTP coolers? We apply Safe-T-Vue irreversible temp monitors to each unit of RBCs and thawed refrigerated plasma, but are unable to apply those to plasma that's still warm. 

 

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