Pneumatic Tubes for Dispensing Blood

[suhu]

oops, posted in wrong place.

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[hughes]

I am looking for an SOP on transporting blood products via tube syste. Could not access John's SoPs.
Would appreciate any help.

Somers Point, NJ

[malabdulla4]

Hi how are yous sure that each units goes to each ordered ward

thanks

[Mary**]

Do you remember who you purcahsed the ziploc from? Were they "biohazard" bags?

[Thad Czuba]

We purchas our Zip-Lock bags from:
INFECON Specimen Bag Liquid tight with pocket, Stock #: 5022-IP Size: 9X12, Quantity: per box 250, per carton =4 boxes = 1000 bags.
Barcoded Number on end of each box: H138 5022 -IP
Manufacturer COM-PAC International

[Brenda Hutson]

We are considering using our pneumatic tube to dispense blood one unit at a time.

Would anyone want to share their experiences or procedures with me?

I have done this many years in different places. Also, there is no reason you cannot send more than 1 unit at a time; just not more than 1 patient at a time (in the same tube). With about 10 years experience in 2 Institutions, I can tell you that the only problem we had was maybe a couple of units which were M.I.A. But they can trace that and Engineering found them.
At one place, we actually had 3 tube stations (very large Medical Center): 1 for the Main Hospital, 1 for the attached Children's Hospital, and 1 for OR only. For OR, they kept the coolers in OR (with cold blocks in refrigerator and freezer) and we sent the units with temp. monitors on them; through the tube system.

I am actually in the process of completing an SOP to start this where I have now been for 2 years. The staff is nervous (though I keep trying to convince them it will be fine). The biggest "potential" problem (one that happened at this large Institution) was Issuing on the wrong patient. If you have the flloor send any kind of document when requesting blood, I would pound into the staff, depending on your computer system, that they always enter the patient's MR# from the pick-up card; NEVER from the paperwork on the unit. That way, if they enter the MR# from the card and don't see their unit listed (which they obtained from the refrigerator), they know something is wrong. On the other hand, if they enter the MR# from the paperwork on the unit, they could issue blood other than what was requested.
If you currently perform some kind of read-back with the perso coming for the blood, you will lose that check. The staff will have to rely on the computer to tell them when something is not right. However, the Nurses SHOULD be doing a readback with another Nurse, prior to administration.
I would recommend you purchase the AABB Guidelines booklet on sending blood through the pneumatic tube, just to make sure you follow all of the regulations. How that is done will vary from Institution to Institution, depending on your processes, size, etc.

Brenda Hutson, CLS(ASCP)SBB

[Mary**]

Do you purchase them directly from Infecon? I saw them in a Marketlab catalog and they were very expensive. Thanks.

[Thad Czuba]

We purchase our BioHazard ziplock bags from Fisher Scientific.

[cswickard]

Sorry all - no one seemed to answer this question - if you send two RBC units up in a tube - what does the floor/unit do with the second unit while the first one is being transfused? Do you have floor refrigerators? Do both units have to be transfused within 4 hours? Or what?

[JOANBALONE]

Yes, some floors have fridges, others will transfuse both units within 4 hours (dialysis or patient has 2 lines or emergency release etc) We will ask the reason if more than one unit is requested and the floor does not have a fridge.

JB