3 Things You Need to Know
About Blood Temperature Indicators
Do you trust a product to protect your blood supplies that may “auto activate?” Would you be discarding expensive blood products because of an unreliable indicator?
1. Accuracy Matters
Of the indicators on the market, one is clearly less accurate. “Indicator A” can reach endpoint at 9°C, resulting in wasted blood – blood that may actually be in compliance.
2. Performance Varies Greatly
The fine print for a competing indicator clearly states that AFTER ACTIVATION, the temperature of the blood needs to be brough back down to its 8°C “Stop Temperature” to avoid premature indication.
This means that the indicator could prematurely indicate at a temperature as low as 8°C if the blood bank doesn’t take the extra step to ensure that the blood – after attaching an activated indicator – is cooled below this “stop temperature.”
3. Lower Price May Not Be Lowest Cost
Comparing indicator purchase price may make it seem like an easy choice. however, the actual COST of an indicator that is:
- poor performing
- less accurate, or
- unreliable
is dramatic in comparison to the cost of wasted blood products.
Knowing that, on average:
- blood banks receive a significant amount of issued blood back
- ONE unit of wasted blood may cost the blood bank $250
It only makes sense that a more reliable indicator that reaches endpoint at 9.6°C (and not as low as 8.0°C) is a more cost effective choice.
HANDY TIP
Safe-T-Vue lot-by-lot QA documents are posted on our website for easy customer access – and prove that Safe-T-Vue is manufactured to quality standards.