What donors are saying
"Donating platelets is something we can do for the community…this is what makes us hang in there."
A.L. Heiman
Apheresis donor
CaridianBCT Solutions for Automated Collections
Trima Accel Collection System
Vista Information System
Donor Conversion Program
Automated Collections
For many years, whole blood collections were the routine way of providing the life-saving components your center needed for transfusion patients. Today, blood centers deal with shrinking donor bases and increased regulatory costs — not to mention a rise in demand for specific blood components. Whole blood collections aren't sufficient to provide the quantities of specific components needed to meet demand.
Apheresis donations: the key to secure collections
The need for whole blood is relatively rare, so whole blood donations are almost always separated in the lab. Each whole blood collection delivers the same amount of components: one unit of red cells, a partial unit of platelets, one unit of plasma. When you consider the amount of components needed for various treatments, it helps put into perspective how many whole blood donors it takes to collect even a partial dose:
| Procedure/Condition | Typical Blood Usage |
|---|---|
| Accident victim | 4-40 units red cells |
| Aneurysm | 6 units of red cells, 4 units of plasma |
| Cancer treatment | 20-30 units of platelets during chemotherapy |
| Heart transplant | 1-4 units of red cells |
| Kidney dialysis | 2-4 units of red cells monthly |
| Knee replacement surgery | 2 units of red cells |
| Liver transplant | 20 units each of red cells, platelets, plasma |
| Premature baby | 1 unit of specialized blood, two tbls at a time |
| Prostate cancer | 2 units of red cells |
Automated collection equipment, such as the Trima Accel Collection System, separates components online. You pick and choose what you want collected — based on your center's current need and the individual donor's unique physiology. The Trima Accel system allows your blood center to collect based on the components you need the most.
Moving from apheresis to automated blood collections
The Trima Accel Collection System, in conjunction with the Vista Information System, helps you with inventory control. A few examples: do the hospitals you supply have specific procedures/surgeries coming up that require more red cells? Do you supply a dialysis department that sees ten patients a day? Do you supply a hospital specializing in cancer treatment? The Trima Accel Collection System lets you focus on the amount you collect of any individual component.
The Trima Accel Collection System helps your center move from a whole blood collections strategy to just-in-time manufacturing. CaridianBCT provides ways to help your blood center move to a component collections strategy, from converting whole blood donors to apheresis to operator education and buy-in:
Platelet collections: The Trima Accel Collection System lets you collect single-donor platelets. Some donors have the physiology that lets you collect double and triple platelets. You can dedicate your automated collection device to platelet collections to meet the high demand for platelet products.
Automated blood collections: Is your red cell demand high? Are more of your donors being deferred? Add red cell and plasma components to your automated collections program.
Total component management (TCM): Are you under financial pressure? TCM helps you to balance blood availability with patient needs by analyzing component needs and donor characteristics to get more of the right donors to commit to flexible collections methods. Ultimately you will have the right components, at the right time, in the right amount.
Converting whole blood donors into apheresis donors takes education — of blood center staff as well as donors. Find out how donor management relates to successful automated donations programs.
Learn how the Trima Accel Collection System and the Vista Information System help you to successfully manage an automated collections program.
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