Twelve units of frozen red blood cells should be placed into a polystyrene foam shipping container. Approximately 1 inch of crushed dry ice is placed on the bottom of the container. Place an elastic rubber band around one of the top layer units for the attachment of a temperature monitoring device.

One temperature monitoring device should be used to monitor the temperature of the blood products inside the container during shipment.

Immediately place the temperature monitoring device under the elastic rubber band which is around one of the top-layer units. This will insure that the temperature monitoring device remains at the top of the product load as the dry ice melts during shipment. Immediately add more dry ice on top of the units so that a total of 40 lbs. has been added to each shipping container.

The shipping container should have a gross weight of at least 55 lbs. prior to shipment to insure that the proper amount of dry ice has been added to the container (Figure 9).

Follow the established procedures for shipment of liquid blood products.

FIGURE 11 (CLICK PICTURE TO ENLARGE)
SHIPPING CONTAINER

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