Managing blood at Burnside Hospital?

What is the process for managing blood at Burnside Hospital?

The Burnside Hospital can receive patient specific cross-matched red blood cells from four different pathology companies, depending on the prescribing doctor’s preference. In addition to their regular patient care, the Recovery Unit nursing staff conduct daily monitoring of crossmatched red blood cells in the fridge. The blood refrigerator is situated near the perioperative service and each unit received is entered by hand into a registry by the Recovery Unit nursing staff. In addition, the nurses must monitor the units in the fridge to ensure they are returned to the relevant pathology company after 72 hours from the time of crossmatch. This practice involves follow-up phone calls to the ward areas to see if the patient is likely to require the transfusion and then to the pathology companies to collect unused units.

In order to ensure the blood fridge remains AS 3864.2-2012 compliant, the nurses perform daily temperature monitoring and recording. They are also responsible for forwarding the information to the primary pathology provider.

Blood fridge maintenance and regular checks are performed by the maintenance department, with yearly assessment and ongoing support by the South Australian BloodMove scientist.

The remote blood fridge stocks 4 units of emergency O negative red blood cells with more available from the primary pathology provider in an emergency