The Jipmer has introduced an online blood bank management system that could make transfusion services simpler and safer.
Introduced as a new module under the existing hospital information system software, the facility will also make the extended sequence of transfusion services more efficient.
A typical working scenario of the online system begins with donor registration, blood screening, recipient registration, conducting anti globulin test and blood dispensing.
A fully online blood bank system benefits all stakeholders — the donors, recipient patients and the hospital administration.
The main advantages include elimination of time-consuming manual procedures and registers for record keeping, minimising the probability of error and making information retrieval precise and effective. Report can be generated for donors, seekers, total consumption of blood units, blood availability status and overall report by monthly, quarterly, half yearly and annually.
In future, the blood bank system will be enhanced in such a way that even donors and recipients can visit the hospital site and obtain the status of the blood availability for their immediate action.
In addition to this, there will be a module shortly to collect and consolidate potential donor information from conducting camps and awareness programs.
It is also planned to provide the donors with a membership card so that he/she can be treated with a privilege for his subsequent donation.
Jipmer’s move to streamline transfusion services comes amid nation-wide efforts to bridge the gap between supply and demand.
According to the National Informatics Centre of India, every year the country requires about 1 crore units of blood, out of which only a meagre 60 lakh units of blood are available.
A team at Jipmer led by Medical Superintendent Dr. J. Balachander and Hospital Information System Unit officer In-charge Dr. Anita Rustagi have already established an online laboratory system, an interface of biomedical equipment with the online laboratory system and patient portal for online registration, case sheet print and laboratory reports access at patient’s convenience.
