Ambulance Victoria paramedics will now make all requests for blood components through Adult Retrieval Victoria (ARV).
The ARV Clinical Coordinator (ARV CC) – a consultant physician – contacts the most suitable health service or transfusion laboratory to arrange for blood component pickup at an agreed time and location.
The Ambulance Victoria procedure for emergency blood component pick up from regional and rural health services covers:
- appropriate cold chain management
- actions for unused blood components
- traceability and audit processes.
No changes have been made to the use or administration of blood components by paramedics.
Blood Matters has developed a presentation detailing the blood component packing process.
Management of blood components by Ambulance Victoria
The location of emergency use group O red blood cells (RBC) across Victoria will be accessed by the ARV CC through secure information-sharing with the existing Blood Matters database.
Please ensure Blood Matters is kept informed of any changes to emergency group O RBC inventory holdings, including at satellite locations.
To assist health service staff, 3 resources have been developed including a flowchart, shipping configuration instructions, and a shipping label.
- Flowchart
- Shipping configuration instructions
- Shipping label
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