Digitization Guidelines for a Blood Bank

Prerequisites to digitize a blood bank

We recommend the following hardware and software to launch a digital system at a blood bank.

* Hamro LifeBank system is taken as a standard for this document

Steps to be followed in a digital blood supply chain

Before Step One

• Donor Pre-register themself for the donation event through Hamro LifeBank System by filling out the online form before arriving for the donation.

1. Step One

The Donation

• Donor arrives for blood donation at an event or blood bank.

• Donor fills their details and health history in a tablet, if they have not pre-registered already.

• Medical staff conducts an initial physical examination of the donor.

• Donor receives a printed donor card with barcode of donor information.

• For a whole blood donation, about 1 pint of blood is collected; several small test tubes of blood are also collected for testing.

• Donated blood, test tubes and donor record are labeled with an identical bar code label and uploaded on Hamro LifeBank system.

• Donated blood is kept on ice before being taken to a blood bank for processing; the test tubes go to the lab.

2. Step Two

Processing

• At the blood bank, information about donation is scanned from the blood bags into Hamro LifeBank database.

• Most whole blood donations are spun in centrifuges to separate it into transfusable components: red cells, platelets, and plasma.

  • Plasma may be processed into components such as cryoprecipitate, which helps control the risk of bleeding by helping blood to clot.

  • Red cells and platelets are leuko-reduced, which means your white cells are removed in order to reduce the possibility of the recipient having a reaction to the transfusion.

  • Each component is packaged as a “unit,” a standardized amount that doctors will use when transfusing a patient.

• Split information of the particular blood bag is added in the system.

3. Step three

Testing

• Parallel to Step 2, donor’s test tubes arrive at the testing laboratory.

• Various tests are performed, to establish the blood type and test for infectious diseases (Hepatitis B, Hepatitis C, HIV and Syphilis).

• TTI and other test results are transferred electronically to Hamro LifeBank Inventory within 24 hours.

• If a test result is positive, donated blood will be discarded and donor will be notified by blood bank (the test results are confidential and are only shared with the donor, except as may be required by law). Reactive blood bags will not get added to the inventory but stats and donor information will be stored.

• Reactive and non-reactive data need to be added in the system; where, reactive data is not added to the inventory but donor information is stored in the database.

• Once the blood groupings are done, donors are sent an ecertificate of their blood group via email.

4. Step Four

Storage

• When test results are received, units safe for transfusion are labeled and stored.

• Hamro LifeBank System sets an expiry date for all the components according to their collection date.

  • Red cells are stored in refrigerators at 6ºC for up to 42 days.

  • Platelets are stored at room temperature in agitators for up to five days.

  • Plasma and cryo are frozen and stored in freezers for up to one year.

5. Step Five*

Distribution

• Blood is available to be shipped to hospitals 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. For this, a blood requisition form is required from patient side wherein details on blood request (Patient name, Phone number, Address, Blood group, Hospital Number, Diagnosis, Number and type of blood product required).

• Blood request are added to the inventory system.

• Respective blood bags are assigned and crossmatched for the patients.

• Blood dispatch details are added to the inventory system at the time of dispatch.

6. Step Six

Transfusion

• An ill or injured patient arrives at a hospital or treatment center.

• Physicians determine whether the patient requires a transfusion and, if so, which type.

• After blood has been transfused, donors are notified through SMS that their blood has been transfused to a patient.

• Donor also gets a reminder after three months, when s/he is eligible to donate blood again.

If Blood is unused

• If the blood taken is not used by the patient, it is either returned back to the blood bank, reassigned to another patient at the hospital or wasted. In all cases, the information shall be updated in the inventory system.