Automation in Transfusion Practice: Storage and Retrieval of Transfusion Information

Abstract

Unlike most blood donor centers or hospital transfusion centers which control only a part of the blood transfusion process, the Mayo Clinic Blood Bank and Transfusion Service is in the unique position of controlling all phases of the transfusion process. Our blood center fulfills all of the responsibilities of a donor blood collection center, those of a hospital crossmatch laboratory and very importantly, the actual transfusion of blood and blood components to the patient, at the bedside and in many instances, in the operating room. It is in this unique setting that we have been establishing an integrated computer system linking the blood collection center and the hospital transfusion site. A situation which surely must take place in many more medical centers in the near future because of the significant benefits which derive from this linkage.