A patient arrived for a transfusion and offhandedly mentioned that he needed to have washed platelets because he was IGA deficient. IGA deficiency information was not included in the original order to Infusion or the blood bank. When the patient mentioned it - the first thought was that the blood bank should have taken care of this already. However, Kathy listened to that little inner voice and did not let it just pass. She called the blood bank and they knew nothing about this need for the patient or the IGA deficiency. They looked into it and found that this should be a special order and procedure and the patient would need to come back the following day so they could get the correct blood product for the patient.
Congratulations to Kathy for a great catch and outstanding patient care!