BD BACTEC FX40 - Page 59

4 – Operation
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Once vials are placed in their stations, BD recommends that you do not move them to other
stations.
Avoid opening the door unnecessarily. The door should not remain open longer than four minutes.
Login
Complete instructions on entering vial, specimen, and patient data is provided in Section 4.6. You
can log in demographic data at any time you find convenient.
Anonymous Vial Entry
Vials can be placed into available (GREEN indicator) stations without being scanned into the
instrument. Vials that are not scanned into the instrument are called anonymous vials. Anonymous
vials are recognized by the instrument when they are placed in stations, but are assigned an
unknown medium type and default protocol of five days. Anonymous vials are evaluated with
general positivity criteria. They cannot use the specific positivity criteria tied to the characteristics
of the medium since the instrument does not know the medium type.
BD recommends that, at some point, you identify these anonymous vials to the system using the
ID(entify) Anonymous vials activity. The instrument is able to apply medium specific positivity
criteria when the medium type is known, and can apply these specific criteria to collected test
readings. In addition, the protocol is adjusted (if necessary) to the default for that medium type
once the vial is identified.
Ongoing anonymous vials that reach the end of their protocol must be identified before the
instrument will assign a Negative status.
If an instrument in a BD EpiCenter™ configuration is in degraded mode, vials can only be entered
as anonymous vials until communications with BD EpiCenter™ are re-established. In a non-
EpiCenter configuration, vials entered at instruments in Isolation mode are anonymous until
communication with the tablet PC is re-established and you identify the vials with the Identify
NOTE
Good clinical practice dictates that for optimal performance, blood
culture vials should be sent to the laboratory as soon as possible
upon collection.
Delays in entering blood culture vials into continuous-monitoring
blood culture instruments may delay or impede detection of growth.
M47-A Vol. 27 No. 17, Principles and Procedures for Blood Cultures;
Approved Guideline.
WARNING
VIALS SHOULD BE HANDLED WITH EXTREME CARE AT ALL
TIMES. MAKE SURE ALL VIALS ARE FULLY INSERTED INTO
THE STATIONS BEFORE CLOSING THE DOOR.