Where Does Tube Testing Fit for Pretransfusion Testing?

Automation has increasingly been adopted in clinical laboratories and blood banks, providing alternatives to the traditional method of manual tube testing for pretransfusion testing.  Pretransfusion testing techniques all have advantages and limitations; it is important to identify scenarios where the traditional tube testing technique should be applied to mitigate limitations of other methods.

Helmer Scientific recently hosted an educational program titled “Options for Pretransfusion Testing – Where Does Tube Testing Fit?”. This program was presented by Susan T. Johnson, MSTM, MT (ASCP)SBB, Director of Clinical Education and Specialist in Blood Banking at Versiti - Wisconsin. This one hour presentation covered topics including the advantages and disadvantages of technologies available for pretransfusion testing, and recommended scenarios when tube testing should be considered the gold standard. “I am still a strong believer that you need test tubes available for your pretransfusion testing” Susan stated during her presentation.  “We have to be cognizant of what [automated technologies] offer to us and where there might be areas where we need to do a bit more testing or problem solving to address the kinds of problems that we might run into. “

Thanks again to Sue for lending her expertise and time to support this educational program!   This program was recorded and may be accessed using the link below.