A recent case in Milwaukee has highlighted the vital importance of accurate and effective real-time tissue tracking.
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The tissue in this case was destined for the treatment of a 25-year old nurse who had suffered a series of knee injuries. The delivery was being handled by one of the most well-known freight companies but, because of the nature of the tissue, there was a strict time limit. Too sensitive for dry ice, the samples were stored in normal ice.
The grafts were scheduled to arrive on Friday but an air traffic delay meant they would be a day late – tight but still possible. However, by 11am, there was still to word of the delivery.
At this point the hospital’s Surgical Operations Coordinator started making phone calls. She eventually learned that the shipment was in Milwaukee, but the company had stopped making deliveries for the day. It was now scheduled to be delivered on Monday – by which time it would have been useless!
At this point she got in the car and drove to the delivery depot – only to learn that the tissue wasn’t there – it was in another facility by the airport but there were no staff there and no-one was answering the phone…
She didn’t give up. After checking that she’d not get stopped by security, she drove to the warehouse, where she spotted a delivery truck. She eventually found two workers who managed to track down the shipment in the massive facility – it was somewhere in a large trailer, filled bottom to top with boxes.
It was almost 2pm when they finally found the tissue samples and a few days later they were successfully grafted into the patient.
Once a person has died and relatives have consented to donate, the clock starts ticking. Tissue must be harvested, tested, shipped and implanted in a tight window – often about 30 days, much of which is needed for testing to ensure no infections are passed on.
Cases like this happen all of the time. Biobanking relies heavily on the effective tracking of tissue at every stage of its journey – without this there is far greater risk of tissue degrading, being contaminated or worse.
Thanks to one very diligent hospital employee and two helpful delivery workers, this particular story had a happy ending!
Read more here
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