Nursing staff checking out blood products from the blood bank without the assistance of a medical technologist
A medical technologist at a Northern California hospital reports that their laboratory has a single CLS on each of the day (1st shift), evening (2nd shift), and graveyard (3rd) shifts. There is a lab assistant on with them. Nursing is asking that if the CLS is not in the laboratory for a short period of time, could the nurse come to the laboratory and check out a unit of blood on their own. Are any facilities permitting nurses to 'check blood out on their own"? If so, what protocol is followed to assure patient safety?
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