5 June 2015 (Friday) - HCPC Newsletter

The HCPC “In Focus” newsletter came out today. Previously I’ve been rather scathing about the thing.

I’m afraid I’m going to be so again. There was *very* little of relevance to me. Orthoptists and paramedics subs are due. The Chair of Council is stepping down. The consultation on the revised Standards of conduct, performance and ethics continues. The annual subscription is going up by twelve per cent (which I think is a bit steep!)…. And so it went on. Nothing really noteworthy.

But on the positive side today’s newsletter had a survey about how they might improve future editions. I said I wanted more information directly relevant to me and what I do. 

Is that so much to ask?

2 June 2015 (Tuesday) - e-learning

Today I did e-learning. The annual review of Anti-D, Good Manufacturing Practice and Safe Transfusion Practice.

All valuable refreshers, but (at the risk of appearing negative) revising knowledge is rather dull compared to learning something new…

1 June 2015 (Monday) - Wolff-Parkinson-White Syndrome

Whilst on a day being a clinical chemist we had a sample with a diagnosis I’ve not seen before.

Wolff-Parkinson-White syndrome is a disorder of the electrical systems of the heart and consequently electrolyte balance is of prime importance in such a condition.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wolff%E2%80%93Parkinson%E2%80%93White_syndrome

Apparently the famous singer Meat Loaf suffers from it. Usually such an admission would breach all sorts of medical confidences… but I read that on Wiikipedia (so it must be true!)

29 May 2015 (Friday) - IBMS Newsletter

The IBMS newsletter came out… last month I wasn’t impressed. This month it covered various topics including:

Elections to the IBMS council. I’ve voted for one chap purely because he’s on my Facebook

list. Realistically I don’t know one candidate from the next.

Retention & Storage of Records. Not really of direct relevance to me. I don’t set retention policies.

Professional Guidance. Again I don’t set policies for supervision of support staff or for staffing levels

And so it went on…. Whilst there were one or two snippets in there I couldn’t help but feel it was written with the lab manager in mind.

28 May 2015 (Thursday) - Patient Blood Management

Patient Blood Management is a multidisciplinary, evidence-based approach to optimising the care of patients who might need blood transfusion.

http://www.transfusionguidelines.org.uk/uk-transfusion-committees/national-blood-transfusion-committee/patient-blood-management

Today I received their newsletter. I’ll not lie; for all that it was a refresher, it was rather basic. O Neg blood *is* important but they could have gone in to more detail…. I suspect I’m not their target audience…?

27 May 2015 (Wednesday) - So Simple...

When validating results one can either use the “1” key or the “A” key. I’ve always used the “1” key. But if results haven’t yet transmitted from the analyser to the host computer…..

Specimen Results Entry ROUGHCUTT,RUFUS                                           27/05/2015 12:44 MR       13/05/1935   Male     101010            Clinical Decision Unit KCH Oregon                   Dr Patrick Pending exacerbation of asthma                       Specimen No   :  AK123456K               Selected Auth Level : S --------------------T-------------------T-------------------T  HB    ^       E000 |NEUH          E000 |                   |  HBG           E000 |LYMPH         E000 |                   |  WBC           E000 |MONO          E000 |                   |  PLT           E000 |EOS           E000 |                   |  RBC           E000 |BASO          E000 |                   |  HCT           E000 |                   |                   |  MCV           E000 |                   |                   |  MCH           E000 |                   |                   |  MCHC  ^       E000 |                   |                   |  MCHCG         E000 |                   |                   | --------------------T-------------------T-------------------T- LTG comments : F.,FR  1 Auth'd   2 Unauth'd   3 Nomin'd   4 Change

and if one is “trigger-happy” the “1” will go into a result slot. And because it’s a number will be accepted. I’d like to think I’ve always spotted any such error and corrected it, but it is a possibility for error.

A colleague pointed out that if I use the “A” key this potential for error is eliminated as the “A” won’t be accepted as a potential result.

So simple its brilliant!!

24 April 2015 (Friday) - An Email

From: NHSBT Customer Service [mailto:-deleted email address-] Sent: 23 April 2015 15:22 To: Transfusion Laboratory Managers; Transfusion Practitioners; Consultant Haematologist; HTC Chairs Subject: NHSBT: April Communication from NHS Blood and Transplant - Information only Dear Colleague Please note that the April communication to hospitals from NHS Blood and Transplant is now available on our website, please see link below: http://hospital.blood.co.uk/  Please note that this month's communication includes the following information: For Action 1.1  OBOS Training System 6.0.2 1.2  New Transport Containers For Information 2.1 Two brand new Patient Information Leaflets launched 2.2 Patient Information Leaflet – Blood Groups and Red Cell Antibodies in Pregnancy Version 3 2.3 Update on NHSBT Platelet Supply Project 2.4 NHSBT TACSI Platelet Production 2.5 New OBOS version release dates For Training 3.1 Training & Education Events and Courses Regards Customer Service NHS Blood and Transplant Tel: :-deleted phone number- Email: :-deleted email address-

The NHSBT newsletter is usually quite interesting... I found this one something of a disappointment...