BD BACTEC FX - 7.3 Unusable Stations, Affected Vials, and Partially Seated Vials

7 – Troubleshooting
179
7.3 Unusable Stations, Affected Vials, and Partially
Seated Vials
7.3.1 General
Certain system alerts represent conditions where the instrument is uncertain whether test readings are
accurate or that the instrument hardware is functioning within specifications. When these alerts occur,
any stations in rows or drawers where instrument function is in question are marked as Unusable. As
soon as the drawer containing Unusable stations is opened, a message box (
WE31) appears and
provides the opportunity to move the vials from Unusable Stations to good stations.
BD strongly recommends that you respond to these messages immediately, and follow the instructions
below for Unusable Stations. If vials are left in Unusable stations for more than 40 minutes, the vials
become marked as Affected vials. For optimal recovery, all Affected vials should be subcultured.
Certain conditions also alert the instrument to the possibility of Partially Seated vials. When these
conditions occur, a message box (
WE53) appears and asks you to physically verify that vials in the
indicated stations are seated. BD strongly recommends that you respond to this message immediately.
If a vial is in fact partially seated, then the condition can be corrected immediately by fully inserting the
vial. If the station is malfunctioning, then you can move the vial from the bad station to a good station
before the vials become Affected.
7.3.2 Unusable Stations
When certain system alert conditions are detected, the hardware associated with those stations is
determined to be out of specification. These stations are marked as Unusable to prevent incorrect test
readings from being used for positivity analysis.
When Unusable Stations are detected, a message box appears (WE31) that enables you to process
the stations now or later. If there are only anonymous vials in the unusable stations, message WE36
appears instead and instructs you to print the Unusable Station Report and to identify the anonymous
vials.
If you select Later, the message box closes and the normal station indicator patterns light. The next
time the drawer is opened, the message reappears.
BD strongly recommends that you address the WE31 message by responding as soon as
possible and following the procedure below. Because the message occurs when the station is
Unusable, then test readings are no longer being acquired for positivity analysis. When 40 minutes of
missed readings occurs, the vials are marked as Affected, and for optimal recovery we recommend
that all such vials be subcultured. To avoid this, respond to the Unusable Station message as soon as
possible.
To address a WE31 Unusable Station message box:
1 Select Later in the message box. Close the drawer.
2 View the System Alert display and print the Alert List report.
3 Print the Affected Vials Report.
4 Open the same drawer, and select Later in the message box.
5 The station indicators change to their normal status indications (Positive, Negative,
Anonymous, etc.).
6 If there are any positive vials in the drawer, select Remove Positives on the Status display.
7 Remove all positive vials using the positive removal activity (Section 4.9).
8 When all positive vials are removed, the instrument beeps 3 times to indicate that this activity
is complete.