Background/Case Studies: In order to provide blood to patients with sickle cell anemia and multiple alloantibodies, the blood center tests for common and rare antigens to identify uncommon donors and rare donors (RD). A number of high frequency RBC antigens and/or collection of antigens exists in donors based on ethnicity, ABO/Rh type and other factors. Identifying units by serological methods presents problems due to scarcity in rare antisera. Multiple databases (DS) or computer systems (CS) are required to store donor information resulting in use of multiple DS and CS to identify rare units using manual methods (MM). The need for a new consolidated computerized RD report (RDR) to aid in sorting, locating, and identifying units from potential RD was identified.
Study
Design/Methods: The RDR was an internally developed computer program to assist in sorting, identifying, and locating units to be tested. The RDR search field was developed to accept the donor identification number (DIN) via barcode or manual keyboard input. The RDR output includes: DIN, donor collection date, ABO donor ethnicity, Hemoglobin S (HGBS) result, first time donor (FTD) status, product code, and RBC phenotype breakdown by blood group, unit expiration date, Food and Drug Administration (FDA) license status, physical location within multiple storage devices, donor unique registration number, and previous antigen testing history. The RDR includes color coding blood group antigens to aid in identifying screening of ethnicity and/or population.
Results/Findings: The requested data was combined into a single database query with output to one single RDR. The report combined data from 3 DS/CS into one RDR, and included all individual components of the DS/CS. The RDR can search up to 100 DIN versus one DIN at a time via MM, and took less than 2 minutes to compile, compared to up to 6 minutes MM. RDR showed 63% reduction in time from 312 to 195 seconds from MM. See Table 1. Conclusions: Prior to development of the RDR, MM to identify units required multiple data sets into multiple DS/CS, generating antigen labels, and reviewing the product label for product licensure. The capability of the RDR enjoys ease of use and streamlined workflow. A single standardized report output helps to readily identify RD in current inventory.
Importance of research: Demonstrated streamlining of work processes with a single, unified report that was user defined and ease of use for sorting rare donor segments in a local blood center.
