INFORMATION SUPPORT IN CLINICAL TRANSFUSION

Purpose: to provide the data related to the clinical use of blood components and transfusion practice, as well as clinical outcomes of transfusions to the haemovigilance system.

Method: the use of computer technologies to improve information support for blood transfusion practice.

Results: Computer System for Clinical Transfusiology (CSCT) is designed to solve problems of maintaining in a computer's database, data about all transfusions that have taken place and their consequences.

The system keeps all the information: about each patient who received blood products during his admission; about each transfusion that took place; about each post-transfusion reaction and complication; about the dynamics of changes in patient's state. The software allows direct input of data about blood products received. It also transmits the data from a blood bank via computer networks or on a floppy.

All the data remains in the database so that physicians can access any information about previous treatment and its results. The system provides all the neccessary standart reports and many other analitic documents. For several years now, the CSCT has been used in resuscitation department of a major City Hospital.

Conclusion: Benefits of the software include the following:

1. Reduction of medical paperwork around transfusions and related re-write errors.
2. Creating an information base for monitoring of a patients' states in different aspects, taking into account all of their previous admissions.
3. Providing efficient access to all medical information for detailed analys of transfusions in different modes (e.g. by diagnoses). This has increased the transfusion efficency.
4. Increase in general knowledge level of medical staff by using the CSCT (and other computer programs) for training.