DISPENSING
| You must have informed consent and established venous access before blood products can be issued! |
How can I retrieve products for my patient?
- Blood products can be picked up from Transfusion Medicine with an authorization form
- Urgent requests should be picked up directly from the Blood Bank!
- Blood products can be sent through the pneumatic tube system. Fax a Request to Tube Blood Products form to: Carnegie at 5-0132, or Weinberg at 2-1123.
| Blood products must be ready before you fax a tube request form! A Fax Request Form should not be sent to Transfusion Medicine unless you have documented consent and the patient is ready to be transfused. |
Where is Transfusion Medicine?
Carnegie Building Room 656.
Weinberg Cancer Center Room 2300-C
How soon will blood products be sent through the tube system after I send a Fax Request?
Routinely, blood products will be placed into the tube system within 30 minutes of the request. How long it takes to arrive at its destination can vary, usually 5 to 30 minutes or more, depending.
How long does the pneumatic tube system take to deliver?
The pneumatic tube system can take anywhere from 5 to 30 or more minutes to deliver a carrier to its destination. This is a great convenience, but understandably, is not appropriate for emergent situations.
If you send a request to tube blood products, it is an indication that you understand the time it may take for the tube system to deliver your products.
The tube system is never an appropriate transport mechanism for emergency situations.
If you have problems with the Tube System, please call Facilities at 5-8300.
How many products can I receive at one time?
Routinely, only one unit of red cells or two units of plasma are issued at a time. Hospital policy states that infusion must be started within 30 minutes of issue, therefore, you can only take as many units as can be started in that time.
In an urgent setting, multiple units can be picked up if authorized by the physician.
Do not request units to have at the bedside as a precaution. Only take blood products that are certain to be used.
I have products that will not be used, what do I do?
Unused blood products must be returned to the lab within 30 minutes of issue or they must be discarded. Therefore,
Please hand deliver the blood products to Transfusion Medicine immediately.
Do not store blood products in refrigerators on the nursing unit. They do not have the necessary monitoring devices for blood storage.
Do not return blood products through the pneumatic tube system. Returning the products on foot greatly increases the chance that they can be reused.
Do not discard the products on the clinical unit. Transfusion Medicine must properly document the transfusion and wastage of blood products. If products are issued to a patient and not returned, they are automatically assumed to be transfused successfully.
I need blood urgently, but products are not yet available. What do I do?
Contact Transfusion Medicine RIGHT AWAY. We can prepare blood products at a moments notice for a critical patient. If crossmatch compatible red blood cells are not available, we can provide you with Emergency Release uncrossmatched red cells within minutes.
Emergency Release blood products can only be given with physician authorization!
It is up to the physician to decide if the patient can wait for a complete ABO/Rh and Antibody Screen and crossmatched blood or if emergency release is warranted.
Be prepared to provide the patient history number and name, as this may access some important information about the patient. These products can be picked up by any authorized staff member, but a physician will still need to sign the release forms.
The three most probable scenarios for emergency red blood cells:
- Patient has not been seen by TM and has no ABO/Rh history on file. Emergency Release uncrossmatched, Group O red cells will be provided.
- Patient has an ABO/Rh history on file but sample is not current. Emergency Release uncrossmatched ABO/Rh type-specific red cells will be provided.
- Patient has a current sample. Transfusion Medicine can provide crossmatch compatible ABO/Rh type-specific red cells. No emergency release necessary.
Both Transfusion Medicine labs in Carnegie and Weinberg have large stocks of group O red cells available at a moments notice for Emergency Release.
Certain locations on campus have a depot of Emergency Release Group O red cells. These inventories are all monitored and maintained by Transfusion Medicine and have all the necessary paperwork and procedures for emergency release. These include:
- ER
- SICU
- WICU
- JHOC OR (Donor Room @ Express Testing)
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These depots were placed in locations with the highest risk of emergent bleeding. If you have a patient in or near one of these locations that requires emergency transfusion, please use the products in these areas. They are there for the benefit of your patient.
Staff in other locations should pick up emergency release directly from Transfusion Medicine.
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