We are having discussions about how long units are good once crossmatched. We are using 72 hours for using the sample sample, but once the blood is crossmatched how long can we keep it on the shelf to be issued. We are currently holding units 48 hours past crossmatch if no blood products have been given.

Thanks,
John

We are having to adjust our billing to conform to CMS guidlines. Currently for an Irradiated Red Cell we bill for the Red Cell, then for the Irrdiation. CMS says that they only want one bundled charge, which is ok for the irradiated. This becomes more of an issue when we consider CMVnegative. We will be going to ISBT in summer 2011. Once we get there, ISBT does not have a "Product type" for ILRC CMV (Irradiated Leukoreduced Red Cells CMV negative. So how are other people handling these "bundle charges" on CMVN ISBT products.

I was informed today by my technical director that they, Immucor, were increasing reagent prices...

somewhere north of 50%

I'd appreciate any information anyone has regarding this antibody. We have an OB patient due in a couple months that has been determined to have an Anti-U. If she needs a transfusion, we are planning on giving Rh and K phenotype specific, but is there anything else that may help prevent complications/reaction? Blood warmer? Thank you!

I am looking to replace my upright Jewett Ultra Low freezer that we have had forever. We need a
-70C freezer preferably without a chart on the bottom of the unit. Any suggestions?

wondering how much support LIS gives on average to facilities out there; I am sure in the larger medical centers they pretty much do it all. To the viewers out there what tasks has your LIS team done and what have blood bank staff had to do.
Thanks

What does your Components department do when they receive units from Collections where satellite bags are not labeled? Do you discard the unit or do you label the satellite bags using extra unit numbers from the back of the main bag?

I work in a blood bank in Recife-Brazil and I am responsable for finding negative donners for S,s,Fy(a), Fy(b), Jk(a) and Jk(b) antigens. I'd like to know if someone uses any alternative technique just for screening before doing a real fenotyping with Diamed cards?

If you knew that a Tech in your lab previously worked at another hospital and made an ABO typing error that resulted in dismissal, would you try to train that person to work in your transfusion service? ...and BTW...without a BB computer system.

(Assume that they have adequate certification for the state/facility)

Hi,
I have worked in several other hospitals that did MTS gel Antibody Screens and panels, but did ABO/Rh testing by tube. It was because the tube testing is cheaper (and of course faster). We only have one MTS centrifuge. What are your opinions on the comparisons of the gel and tube methods for ABO/Rh testing on patients and retypes on units?

Hi,
The hospital I work for has rec'd the MTS Gel equipment for starting an in-house transfusion service. Included is the MTS electronic pipette. I previously used the 3-vol. repeating pipette at other hospitals. I am told that they don't make the manual adjustable 3-vol ones anymore. I'm finding the electronic one a little cumbersome to use (that is the tactful version). I would like to hear what others think about it.

Thanks

PS: If this has been discussed before, please direct me to the post. I couldn't find anything, at least not quickly.

Is anyone aware of any type of forum like BloodBank Talk for other clinical areas of the laboratory? This is such a great site for information, my co-workers in Hematology and Chemistry wonder if their is sometrhing like this site for them. I appreciate any info!

Does anyone know if there is a way to charge unit antigen typing (regardless of infusion) directly to a patient account using Meditech C/S v. 5.64?

(Right now we pull a weekly "BBK History Audit Log" for antigens only and bill each patient manually by adding a charge type test to the XM requisition. However, it's sometimes difficult to tell which patient the antigen typing goes with, especially if we have multiple patients with the same antibody receiving blood at the same time. And it frequently results in late charges appearing on patient accounts.)

Any other suggestions even if there isn't a way to do it automatically?

Thanks!

If a donor has been to Johannesburg, South Africa for 2 days for how long should he be deferred?

Thank you
Liz

Anyone have an idea the effect protonix would have if administered piggybacked with a unit of PRBCs infusing :mad:. Nursing had a bit of a snafu with this recently and risk management brought it to my attention. I did determine with pharmacy's assistance that the solution used for suspension of the protonix is normal saline so that much is a relief. As I am not sure of the chemical properties of protonix I cannot hazard a guess as to the possible interactions with RBCs. Any help would be greatly appreciated :D

I would appreciate your opinions on transfusing D positive Apheresis platelets to D negative patients. Any references?

Thank you
Liz

Hi
Need to write procedure for batch acceptance of reagents
Was going to include condition on receipt ie box not upside down ,intact , no leaks , 10 ordered 10 recd etc
Testing of reagents themselves
red cell antibody screening cells - against known antibodies and previously tested negative samples
ABO rgts -ABO / RHD samples retested
am I on correct lines

regards

A couple of days ago we had a patient in OT who had a major obstetric haemorrhage and required 12 units of blood. Unfortunately she was O negative and because of the shortage of O negative blood, 8 of these units were O positive. She eventually had a hysterectomy and seemed to recover okay. I have just checked her Hgb this morning and it has dropped to 7.3, so it is very likely that the doctors may request blood again.
So the question is: Is it okay to keep transfusing with O Positive blood if the antibody screen remains negative? O neg blood is in very short supply here so it would be a problem.
Of course, if anti-D does develop then I have no choice but to give O neg, but until then...........

I would greatly appreciate feedback on the following:

Cord Blood workup was performed; type A POS, DAT-Pos.
Immucor Elu Kit Results; A1-1+, B-1+, SCI-4+, SCII-4+.
Mom is O POS with Passive D (PD)from Rhogam.
We assumed the the positive Screen Cells was due to PD, however we got
pannaglutination-4+ rxns in the Antibody ID. Could that be due to mom's medication?
Thanks

recently our lab rec'd a specimen for Ab ID on a patient who was known to have an anti-K. This time, however, she also had a strong COLD AGGLUTININ and 2+ coombs
( Igg ++, POLY ++ C3-)

So... a REST adsorption was perfomed and it looked to me that she had developed an anti-f to go along w/ her previous anti-K. ( clearcut rxns in 10/16 panel cells,a homozygous c+ cell was NOT reactive)

Now, the patient is O pos, C+, E-, c-, e+ , and this gave me pause, but my understanding of the Anti-f antibody is as follows-

the epitope is created of the juxtaposition
( cis position) of the c and e antigens,
thus Dce/DCE WILL react, while DcE/DCe will NOT.

So, my question is whether or not the literature, and collective experience dictates that a patient MUST be negative for BOTH c and e for a patient to develop an anti-f.

My understanding tells me my call is reasonable while the senior tech and our technical advisor wish for the report to be changed.
( Call it an anti-c)

Either way our recommendation was for IAT crossmatch compatible blood lacking the K and c antigens.