My request for yet another BB freezer was approved. May I ask if someone knows if the Blood Bank Helmer freezer: iPF125-8 exists in a double-door version? We import a lot of our equipment and I didn't find it on their web-site and no reply from 'sales@helmerinc.com' :(

Moreover, which BB double-door freezer brands would you advise?

Thanks,
Liz :):):):)

My request for yet another BB freezer was approved. May I ask if someone knows if the Blood Bank Helmer freezer: iPF125-8 exists in a double-door version? We import a lot of our equipment and I didn't find it on their web-site and no reply from 'sales@helmerinc.com' :(

Moreover, which BB double-door freezer brands would you advise?

Thanks,
Liz :):):):)

A 3-day old A negative newborn required blood last night, his Ab screen was positive and Ab Id revealed anti-Jka. He phenotyped Jka negative, I typed his mom, also Jka negative. These are her Abs that crossed and his titer (dilution :)) was 8. The major-crossmatches with Jka positive donors were compatible; still I do not transfuse except with Ag negative units, and "fresh" for newborns. So, we performed a call in the Medical Center and to Red Cross volunteers and finally found an A negative donor with Jka negative blood. All went well.
My question is, given this situation, how would the 3-day old Jka negative's immune system react to seeing the antigen Jka?
Moreover, I plan to keep this unit for him, according to the latest literature and practice it is preferable to use the same unit up to expiry; do you only wash the small aliquots each time to remove the excess K? Anything else required? How are the 42- day old RBCs in terms of function?

Thank you,

Liz :work: :writersbl

We do autocontrol with all ABIDs. Do any of you also do autocontrol with all antibody screening tests (we do not).

Does anyone have a transfusion service computer system that they love & would recommend? We're especially interested in one that has rule based logic, great reports, and can have several different users accessing an emergency patient's application when needed. Thanks!!!

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Does anyone have a transfusion service computer system that they love & would recommend? We're especially interested in one that has rule based logic, great reports, and can have several different users accessing an emergency patient's application when needed. Thanks so much.

Currently I help to run a 5 day course which focuses on the transfusion basics. We are continually looking to improve the way we do this.
What would/ do you look for in a training course? What would you love to see covered?
At the moment the format is 2 lectures (or discussion type groups) in the morning followed by a hands-on practical session in the afternoon (to follow on from the morning's theory).
We currently cover:
Day 1: Lectures: 'antigens & antibodies'/ 'basic blood grouping techs'. Prac: ABO (in tubes)
Day 2:Lectures: 'ABO system'/ 'Rh system'. Prac: Rh grouping (DCEce)
Day 3: Lectures: 'Other blood group systems'/ 'Antibody screening & ID'. Prac: Antibody screening & ID
Day 4: Lectures: 'From Donor to Door'/ 'Pre-transfusion testing'. Prac: Compatibility testing (ABO/D, screen, ident & crossmatch)
Day 5: Lectures: 'Hazards of transfusion'/ 'Intro to HDFN'. Prac: Mum, Dad & baby samples for investigation of HDFN

During incubation/ spin times in pracs we give out various pieces of data to interpret.
We currently assess the attendees informally but need to make this more formal (for their benefit even though it puts them off attending!).
We accommodate up to 12 people on each course & have 2 trainers available each day.

We are looking to expand on the assessment part too.
Any contributions from you guys would be much appreciated!:)

I'm terrible at using the internet for anything other than the occasional video game. Does anyone have any references to studies done concerning peg adsorptions? Does anyone here have any personal experiences, pros/cons, tips and tricks? Am I going to miss weak antibodies? Am I going to miss certain antibody specificities, ie Kell, because of the peg? Four drops or six? Why do hotdogs come in packs of 10 and buns come in packs of 8?

We had a patient come in a week ago with a really strong cold and warm auto. Using a peg adsorption I was able to get a negative screen, but since my facility really doesn't do that sort of thing often when the next shift showed up that morning they went ahead and sent samples to the reference lab. ARC agreed with my findings.

I was considering taking some of the patients completed cbc tubes and spiking them with some expired antisera to see how easy it would be to pick up the antibody after the adsorption. I'd be curious to hear some suggestions/tips/tricks for that as well.

I am looking for some feedback on a policy our Nursing Staff would like to implement... They would like to have Transfusion Services "work-up" an IVIG reaction as a transfusion reaction instead of an adverse drug reaction. Any feedback? or any others who have seen it done this way? :)

Hello Blood Bankers...

I just found this website and after browsing awhile I am excited to be a part of the group!

ejani :)

We are currently looking at our staffing ratios and I am wondering if any of you in collection centers would share with me what staff to donors collected ratio you are currently using ... AND ... if those staff are performing anything other than Screening and WB Collections.

I've seen the mobile staff to donor ratio previously stated as 1.5 donors per staff per hour of collection...is this a valid number still, or are you using some other parameter?

Thanks

Hello, I am in a statistics class and we are using statistics from work for a cost analysis paper. I am comparing the manual tube blood banking to the Immucor Echo. I am needed some TAT statisitcs for the Echo. I am trying to perform an ANOVA calculation, but only have pre-analyzer statistics. Is there a vendor out there that could share Echo TAT statistics. I know there is a consistent TAT for a type and screen, but I need real numbers to plug into the excel worksheet. Please attach a link or I can send you my email.

Hi Everybody,
I need all your input about this problem:
We are a Level I Trauma Center (I'm the Medical Director of the Blood Bank), and we went "live" with our Meditech LIS Blood Bank Module on 12/15/2009. The Nursing, IT and Medical Records Departments are requesting/demanding that the Blood Bank staff perform what I and the BB staff consider to be Nursing duties. They want us to enter every Transfusion start date/time into the EMR. The Nursing staff perform the transfusion, they enter manually the transfusion start/stop time into a duplicate BB Tag and return the duplicate tag to the BB (the original stays in patient's chart).
I am somewhat aghast at this request. In fact, I wonder whether it is even legal for a BB Tech to enter this information into the EMR, when they did not perform the transfusion.
What I would like to know is: Does any Blood Bank perform this function, or do you know of any BB that does this? And does anyone know of the medico-legal ramifications if this was to be done? Thanks for your input/help.
For obvious reasons, I would like to remain anonymous.

Some time ago I asked for advice on validating Immucor's Anti-C3d with Ortho's bufferd gel card. I got the help that I needed but I have run into a problem. I have tested 4 samples that produced weakly positive to 1+ reactions with anti-C3d in the tube but all were negative when I tested them in gel. I have been converting Immucor’s complement control cells to 0.8% and using them as my positive control. The control always works but I can't figure out why my samples are coming up negative. Has anyone experienced this?

This may seem like a silly question but we are having a major disagreement with a trauma doc.

Does anyone issue emergency release blood without having a patient name and MRN? If so, how do you track which blood goes where? We are a Class I trauma center where multiple traumas at one time is common. We have a system that works well with single traumas. Blood bank is included in the trauma page, we call ER get patient info and we deliver emergency release blood before the patient has even arrived. However, when there are multiple traumas at one time, the ER communication seems to break down - Pages aren't sent, phone calls aren't made etc etc. We tried an ER refrigerator but that was a nightmare. They could not comply with all of the regulations and it was removed after about 2 months and several attempts at retraining.

47 yo, healthy blood donor Typed
Anti-A 4+
Anti-B 0
Anti-D 4+
A1 Cells 0
B Cells 0

IS with donor B cells 2+

What is happening?

thank you :confused:
Liz

Does anyone have a recipe for making in-house QC material to QC complement reagent?
We use C3b-C3d. I know you can purchase QC but wondered if anyone made their own.
Thanks !

Currently we perform a DAT with all of our ABID's as well as an auto control, and were wondering if the DAT is clinically significant?? We are looking at eliminating the DAT unless we have a positive auto control and/or pan agglutination in the panel cells. Could you please let me know what the practice is at your facility. Any information would be appreciated.
Thanks,
Barbara

Grumble, grumble... My MTS fuge decided today was a good day to stop latching. No latching, and it will obviously not run. Back to tube testing for now. Of course this occurred as a STAT cross match landed on my bench :rolleyes:. Anyone else have difficulties / experience with the MTS fuge and latching problems? Can't imagine why it is not working all of a sudden as it is practically new (about 8 years old) :D.