Conversion of Whole Blood Donors to Automated Collections
Program Code: 128-RC
Saturday, October 23, 2004
4:00 PM to 5:30 PM (ET)

SPEAKERS
Michael J. McCall, BS, MBA, American Red Cross
Patricia Distler, MS, MT(ASCP)SBB, ICCBBA
Deborah Jameson-Lee, RN, American Red Cross

DESCRIPTION
The purpose of this session is to present data that document the impact of donor-friendly features of apheresis equipment on the likelihood of donor conversion from whole blood to automated collection. Logic suggests that single-needle procedures and short procedure times will result in greater donor conversion rates, but do the data support this hypothesis?

OBJECTIVES

• Determine the impacts of procedure time, needle size and single-needle procedures (as opposed to dual-needle procedures) on the likelihood of converting a whole blood donor to an automated procedure
• Learn about how two different blood centers are converting whole blood donors to automated collections. Topics include communications, staff training, performance standards, and standard operating procedures.

AUDIENCE
Technologists, Nurses, Managers/Supervisors

PROGRAM LEVEL
Basic to Intermediate