Ad hoc ordering of standard blood products

The term "ad hoc ordering" refers to ordering by a hospital of one or more blood products from Belgian Red Cross-Flanders (CRD) because a standard blood product is missing or is no longer available in sufficient quantity in the hospital blood bank, and the delivery to the hospital is so urgent that the procedures for normal ordering and for normal delivery cannot make the blood products concerned available in the hospital blood bank in time.

If the hospital closely monitors its blood product inventory, then ad hoc ordering of VPVIM will be rather exceptional because the long shelf life of VPVIM makes it possible, under normal circumstances, to replenish a hospital's VPVIM inventory through normal orders from the main depots in Ghent and Mechelen.
Of course, the hospital can always place an ad hoc order of VPVIM through ROOS for distribution at the main depot in Ghent or Mechelen without prior consultation with RKV.
If urgent distribution of VPVIM via one of RKV's blood bank laboratories in Leuven, Ghent or Jette (UZBrussels) is necessary due to medical urgency during the closing hours of both main depots, this can only be carried out after approval by RKV's clinical biologist on call. You can reach him/her by calling the phone number of the chosen blood bank lab, this phone number can be found under Contact Details Diagnostics.

Ordering Procedure

Like a normal order, an ad hoc order must be made using ROOS, namely by using the ad hoc order request screen. The emergency procedure for ordering in case of ROOS failure can be found in the ROOS manual.

Please note that an ad hoc order by means of ROOS must always be preceded by telephone contact with the CRD depot in Mechelen or Ghent, i.e. the depot from which the ad hoc delivery will take place: cfr contact details

The ROOS manual describes how the ad hoc order request screen asks you not only to specify the requested blood products but also to choose the urgency level for the ad hoc issue of the ordered blood products. This urgency level determines how quickly the requested blood product must be issued by RKV after electronic ordering through ROOS and consequently the ordered products can be picked up by the carrier. The degree of urgency can also influence the issuing location.

ROOS offers four urgency choices:

• Highly urgent: availability for dispensing by RKV within 30 min after receipt of the electronic order in ROOS. In order to keep the transport time as short as possible, the hospital can ask, during the telephone contact that always precedes the ad hoc order, to issue the products - if available - in the closest RKV location, e.g. in one of RKV's three blood bank labs, in Leuven, Jette, or Ghent.
• Urgent: ready for issuance by RKV within 30 min of receipt of electronic order in ROOS. 
• Low Urgent (only for delivery on Monday through Saturday, not Sunday nor holidays): ready for issue and for pickup by the carrier at RKV from 7am on the date specified in the ROOS order. 
• Low-urgent, for a hospital with an agreed platelet stock for replenishment of the PLC stock on Monday morning, where RKV organizes the transport on Saturday prior to the holiday on Monday or on Tuesday following the holiday on Monday.There is the choice of organizing a transport on Saturday or on Tuesday in the name of and on behalf of RKV, so that the ordered platelets are delivered to the hospital before 9 a.m. on Saturday or Tuesday at the latest. Consequently, the hospital should not organize a transport in this case. If a second low-pressure order will be placed, however, this will be at the hospital's expense.

 Shelf life PLC

The chart below shows, among other things, the shelf life of platelet concentrate in ad hoc orders. 

Click on the image for a full-screen view of it.

 

 Form (to be used in emergency procedure only)

• Ad hoc order form