Blood Bank

VistA Laboratory Blood Bank module uses data that can be tied primarily to a donor, a patient, or a unit of blood/blood component. Information about a blood donation or a donation attempt revolves around the name of the blood donor. Similarly, information about a unit of blood/blood component, once it appears in inventory, revolves around the donor unit identification, while information involving transfusion.

Features

Improves the safety of blood/blood component transfusions by decreasing the number and severity of human errors through:

Retrieval of previous records and verification of current results.
Detection of inconsistencies and flagging results that require corrective action before release of the unit.
Bar code entry of donor unit information.
Computer-assisted labeling of donor units.

Improves the quality of patient care by allowing an evaluation of the appropriateness of all transfusions and specific blood components through integration with other portions of the system. Integration is accomplished by:

Comparison of current lab values with established standards and screening criteria for each of the various components to allow concurrent audits.
Delta checks for pre-transfusion and post-transfusion values to determine if the increments are within the established range.

Decreases clerical workload through:

Bar code entry from donor unit information.
Transfer of information via pointers to reduce duplication.
Preparation of labels following data entry.
Generation of consultation reports.
Ability to perform searches for generating call lists.
Generation of workload statistics for a given collection site for use in future planning.
Automated blood donor recruitment and thank you letters.

Improves utilization review/resource management through:

Workload and transfusion statistics, and cost accounting by ward, treating specialty, and physician.
Workload statistics, including variables by time of day and day of week. Access to information for medical and nursing staff.