5 posts tagged “blood banking”

I just got tagged by Steve.

1. Grab your nearest book.

2. Open the book to page 123.

3. Find the fifth sentence.

4. Post the text of the next 3 sentences on your blog along with these instructions.

5. Tag 5 different people.

The actual nearest book was a binder full of stuff for writing objectives for a clinical laboratory science program.  But it was more like a compilation and I never found a page 123, and although I think there are about 500 pages in that binder, I'm not about to count them.  The closest bound book is Transfusion Medicine, by Jeffrey McCullough, so here goes:

Formulas are available to calculate the volume of blood that can be removed from patients with different starting hematocrits and different weights to achieve a final hematocrit of 30%.  Criteria for patient selection should be determined in advance by written protocol.  Usually ANH* is reserved for patients in whom the expected blood loss is 1 liter or more or 20% or more of the patient's estimated blood volume.

*ANH = Acute Normovolemic Hemodilution.  Sometimes before surgery, they will remove 1-2 units worth of a patient's blood (0.5-1 liter) and replace it with fluids.  This way if a patient bleeds, they lose fluid but not as many cellular components of their blood.  At the end of the surgical procedure, the OR people can transfuse the patient's blood back to them, to "top them off," so to speak.  The patient can then leave the OR with a higher RBC volume, which is especially helpful for cardiac patients.

I know, enough with the science books already!  I'm sorry, it's all I read these days.  :)

January is National Blood Donor Month

OK, so you all know that I work in a blood bank.  I've never drawn blood from anyone, which is what most people ask me when I tell them that I work there.  They ask that because that's the visible side of the blood bank.  I'm on the other side of it, the side that most people never see.  I guess it would be more proper to say I used to be on the other side of it.  I worked in a transfusion service for almost ten years.  This transfusion service was, let's say, in a very large and very well-known medical institution. 

In those years I have tested, labeled, and sent out for transfusion so many blood products for so many patients that I don't even know how many.  Thousands.  Hundreds of thousands.  Old ladies getting hip replacements.  Little babies having their heart deformities fixed.  Teenagers in car accidents on prom night.  The farmer who had a barn fall on him during a thunderstorm and required over 100 units of red cells.  Patients of all ages with myelodysplastic syndrome or sickle-cell anemia who are transfusion-dependent and would die if someone didn't care enough to come in and donate blood on a regular basis.  Cancer patients in whom the chemotherapy has destroyed their own blood cells along with the cancer cells, who need blood so that they don't starve to death or bleed to death.

I could go on.

If you already donate blood, then AWESOME!  Thank you!  If you don't, please consider it.  I know not everyone can.  I'm one of those who isn't able to because my hemoglobin (iron) level is too low.  I think that's part of the reason why I'm so passionate about encouraging others to donate.  It's not hard, and the needle's not that big. :)  You don't get paid, but you do get to relax for at least a half hour and you get a treat afterward.

If you say you'd like to donate blood but don't know where to go, use this blood donation center finder.

Here's a link to some FAQ's about donating blood, and I can also probably answer questions you might have.  The Red Cross also has some great information.

I'm not a great emotional writer so I can't write a piece that will leave you in tears and reaching for the phone.  So I will just say this: blood is not something that can be manufactured, it is not something that we can just make more of when we need it.  There is no transfusible substitute for human blood.  Scientists are working on blood substitutes, but have not yet made one that does what blood does without being toxic.  Blood is a unique and wonderful thing that so far cannot be replicated in the lab.  Blood donation is a contribution to the greater good.  Becoming a regular donor helps to ensure that there will always be enough blood available for whoever needs it. 

Because you never know when that might be you.

Please give blood. 

The Red Defender

I have a friend who homeschools - well, actually, I have a lot of friends who homeschool - but this one particular mom has a son who's super smart and wants to be a doctor.  He knows I work in the blood bank and one day about a year ago was asking me about blood types & stuff.  I explained a little bit but ran out of time.  A few months ago, this friend told me that her son wants to learn more about it. 

Oh joy!

I really mean that!  In my opinion blood banking is one of the coolest things on the planet, and it just makes me excited that I can actually take the time and teach someone about it.  That someone actually wants to learn it.  And since this child is about 10 years old but is super-smart, I plan on teaching on maybe a 6th-grade level.  So I won't have to go into lots of scientific detail but I can cover the basics.  I told his mom last weekend that this spring should be a lighter semester for me and I'd love to set something up for her son and anyone else who wanted to come.  (I think I'll offer it to some of my other homeschooling friends too - we could have a class - it'd be fun!)  I'd even take a day off of work to do this, that's how excited I am.

So I'm starting to think about what I'm going to do.  I have a bag of red blood cells colored water at my desk that I made for a demonstration a while back.  I think I'll use that, and also make a yellow one to represent plasma.  I'm going to talk about the different parts of blood and how they work and why you need them.  Maybe I can borrow a microscope from work here and actually let them look at a slide.  (Note to self: call Hematology.)  And I'd like to let them type their own blood.  Maybe I can plant a bug in one of these kids' brain about laboratory medicine/pathology and how awesome it is.

So I'm going to make a plan and present it to our medical director to get his permission to use reagents, slides, etc.  I plan to use only stuff from the student lab, which is mostly outdated anyway, so I'm sure he won't care.  He's a pretty easygoing guy; I just think it would be best if he knows about it ahead of time. You never know in what strange way something like that might come up and then he'd be wondering why I'm using work's stuff for something that's not work-related.

One of the things that I think I'll share with them is this blood typing game from the Nobel website.  I'm also sharing it with you to play if you're bored.  I think it's great (if not a bit oversimplified).  If you play it, there's a quick intro that explains it all.  You first have to type the patient's blood and then choose a compatible type of blood for them.  If you play it, let me know how you do!

Yes, I am a nerd.  I revel in my nerdiness.  :)

• This morning I took my second micro test.  On the last test I got a B, which is kind of bad, but I've gotten B's before.  The trick is doing well enough on the other tests to still score an A in the class.  Unfortunately, I'm pretty sure I got a B on this test too.  There was just too much information to cram into this aging brain of mine.  I keep telling myself that it's OK if I get a B or two in a class.  I mean really, as long as I pass my boards, that's all anyone will see.  When I see a certified Medical Technologist, I never wonder what their GPA was - ok, with some people I do but I also wonder how those people passed the boards in the first place.

(Speaking of boards, remember a month or so ago when I posted about passing the Blood Bank technologist exam?  I got my scores around Labor Day.  I needed a 400 to pass, and the max score was 999.  I got a 667, which I didn't think was very good, although in all honesty was around where I hoped I'd be based on how hard the test was.  [It was one of those tests where if you get one question right, they give you a harder one, and they keep getting harder until you miss one.  I'm assuming the harder questions have a higher point value.]  So anyway, I was on the ASCP website the other day, looking for some information for work, and I came across the stat sheets for the certification exams that they offer.  Naturally, I had to check it out to see how my score compared to everyone else's.  The mean score for 2006 was 405 [i.e. barely passing].  The range of scores for 2006 was 171 to 672!  I only missed the highest test score of 2006 by 6 points!!  That was so cool.  Maybe 667 was a better score than I thought.)

• I took a health assessment today for a website that's focused on employee health and it's sponsored by my employer.  It's part of their insurance, to encourage & help people to live healthy lifestyles...which, for a healthcare insitutuion that has to eat a lot of the costs of their employees being sick (both in lost wages and in medical care), in my opinion is a pretty good investment and a great idea.  It's about time someone figured out that we should encourage health in addition to treating disease.  (In other words, being proactive instead of just reactive.)  Anyway, I took this assessment and it turns out that I'm at high risk for health problems.  I have great numbers (BP, glucose, total chol, HDL, LDL, triglycerides are all in range) but apparently I have a few risk factors.  For example, I drive more than 5 mph over the speed limit.  And I don't wear a helmet when I ride my bike.  (I have one; I'd bought it so that I can be a good example to the kids, um yeah....that didn't last, although they wear their helmets.)   Let's see, what else.  I have some family history of some stuff so that was working against me. 

And my favorite? It asked whether or not I drink alcohol.  You all know of my love for wine, so of course I said yes.  How many glasses of wine per week?  Well, this varies by week but I suppose averages around 5.  And I added one since we've been into margaritas lately (although my mix is gone now, thank goodness).  So 6 drinks per week.  According to the website it's recommended that I keep it under 8 per week.  So why then, was this considered risky behavior?  Because one of the questions it asked me was "Do you feel like you need to cut back on your drinking?"  Well, yeah, of course I could cut back - wine has lots of calories, after all - so I said yes.  I think they've labeled me as an alcoholic.  Whatever.  I don't "feel I need to cut back" because of addiction .  I did answer "no" to the question about having a drink first thing in the morning to ease my hangover symptoms.  I don't even get drunk, let alone hung over.  So I'm labeled, LOL.  The website is offering a free "lifestyle coaching" service and I figured it wouldn't hurt to get a phone call to talk about some health stuff like exercise and nutrition.  I suppose they're going to try to get me to go to AA.  (Insert Amy Winehouse background music here)   

Oh, and the really cool thing is I got to pick a book for taking the time to do the assessment.  I picked the Mayo Clinic Book of Alternative Medicine.  I've been interested in holistic-type approaches to healthcare for a while but have never read about it, so I think this'll be interesting.  And the information is coming from a source that I know is sound.

• Also on the work front, we still haven't heard anything about this new supervisor we're getting.  The position's been posted, and of course we're all prognosticating about who we think it'll be.  Right now I'm thinking that it might end up being someone from departmental QA.  She really does know her stuff and I really truly do like her as a person, but she would so be a micromanager.  Maybe she'd be ok, I don't know.  I just wish they'd hurry up and hire her so we don't have to speculate anymore.  I actually thought about applying myself, but I don't think that the ops manager sees me as supervisory material.  I think she sees me as a loose cannon.  (If any of my family members are reading this, they're probably dying laughing right now - they know how I can go on!  And on and on....)  Plus I neither have nor do I want any QA experience.  I'd rather rip my toenails off than work in QA.  Don't get me wrong, I'm glad someone's looking out for the safety of the blood supply.  I'm just glad it's not me.  And as potential blood recipients you wouldn't want it to be me.  I would S.U.C.K. at quality assurance.  It's wayyy too nit-picky for my aptitude.  Education is way more my cup of tea.  It's a little more fly-by-the-seat-of-your-pants, work with the moment, laugh at your mistakes and move on.  (Again, if my family is reading this I'm sure they're dying laughing.  They know how I hate structure.)

So yeah, that's been my day.

This is where I have been for the last 1.5 days.  I'm staying at the Holiday Inn Express in Bloomington, MN.  My hotel has a lovely view of I-494 and the MSP airport - specifically, the Northwest hangar.  Last night there was a tornado warning that came through right around the time we were going to leave for supper.  I can't say as I've ever had the interesting experience of being on the 10th floor with sirens going off.  The hotel shuttle wouldn't even go for a while; eventually we just drove to supper ourselves.

This hotel has less-than-average housekeeping service.  I will say that my room has always been clean, and I haven't found hair in the sheets or anything, so that's good.  However, when I got here Wednesday night there was no toilet paper in my room.  Two rolls and both were empty.  By the time I got into my room and started to settle in it was already 10:00 so I figured ok, I'll just use Kleenex and suffer through (sorry, hope that wasn't TMI) until they come and service my room on Thursday.  On Thursday, they did come and left me some toilet paper, so I was glad to see that.  However, they didn't leave me any conditioner.  Normally I always bring my own shampoo & conditioner, but now that I have short hair that behaves a little better I figured I'd save space in my bag and just use the stuff in the room.  And that, of course, would be the time that they don't leave me more conditioner after I needed the entire little bottle on Thursday morning.  So I called down to the desk and they brought me three bottles.  Um, ok, I didn't need that much, but thanks.  Then when I got back into my room after supper I noticed that not only had the coffee maker not been rinsed out (even the cheap hotels will do that for you), but they didn't leave me a new thing of coffee.  I thought about trying to make do without coffee the next morning, but then I decided that no, it would never do for me to try to get through a morning without coffee.  It just wouldn't.  So I called the front desk - AGAIN - and asked for coffee.  Brother.  This room costs $185 a night.  Even though I'm not paying for it I think the service should be a little better than this!!   I hate to be high-maintenance, but some things you just can't do without.  Let's just say I'm not impressed.  

Last night was supposed to be the Speaker Supper - the MnABB board always takes the speakers out for a nice dinner.  Strangely, this year none of the speakers came.  Not one.  So it was 8 of the 10 board members at this restaurant.  The meal was going to be paid for either way, so we took advantage.  The restaurant was at the Mall of America and it was called the Twin City Grill - I highly recommend it if you find yourself at the MOA anytime in the future.  I was also ecstatic to find one of my new favorite wines on the wine list (Pedroncelli "Mother Clone" Old Vine Zin - we tasted it out in Sonoma).  After supper we walked over to Nordstrom Rack (the Nordstrom's outlet store) and I didn't buy anything.  But not for lack of finding anythinhg - I found some incredible Kenneth Cole Reaction black leather pumps, and some great jewelry.  Unfortunately, though, any & all extra monies are going to have to be used to replace our computer at home, which was in the process of blowing up as I talked to my husband last night (right after we got diverted off the shuttle bus because of the weather).  So I did call him from Norstrom Rack to let him know that for once I exercised some self-control and did not buy anything.  His lack of enthusiasm about it was less-than-rewarding for me, especially given the fact that I will be feeling the pain of not buying those pumps for a long time.

Oh yeah, I'm here for a meeting too.  I've mentioned before that I have an aversion to meetings, and to sitting in one place for long periods of time, so I didn't attend most of the actual lectures yesterday (except one which was given by a work friend of mine and she'd asked for moral support).  I worked the registration table yesterday and today I'll be in charge of the vendors.  That should be kind of fun - vendors always have cool stuff.  I could use some more Post It notes for my kitchen so hopefully someone will have a stack.

I'm actually kind of having a good time.  It's fun to be treated as if you actually know something.  I'm being allowed to make decisions and everything - I'm loving it!  I'm no powermonger or control freak, but I do get sick of being questioned at every turn at work.  Either there's a complete lack of trust among coworkers where I work or else I'm a complete moron who needs to be questioned.  I guess I'll never know for sure but like I said, I am really enjoying myself here.

Today the meeting goes from 8-4 and then we get to go home.  I'm only an hour away from home so I'll be home in time to see my kids before they go to bed, which will be nice, especially since I'm sure Brian's ready for a break.  He probably deserves Pizza Hut delivery.