Search Bloodindex

Dear Guest, Welcome to Bloodindex Sign in | Sign up

Home | Search site | Link map | Help | Site Map


	My health diary My health folder Blood sugar diary BP printable diary Cholestrol diary Clinical tests diary Treatment diary Directory service Knowledge zone Download zone Health calculators News zone Tell my friend Blood services Support services Link map

Quality Asssurance in Blood Transfusion Service - Introduction

You are here : Home/ Blood Bank Zone/ Quality Asssurance in Blood Transfusion Service/ 1. Quality Asssurance in Blood Transfusion Service - Introduction

1. Quality Asssurance in Blood Transfusion Service

A simple definition of quality is 'fitness for a purpose'. In blood transfusion service, the primary goal of quality is 'transfusion of safe unit of blood.' The objective is to ensure availability of a sufficient supply of blood, blood components of high quality with maximum efficacy and minimum risk to both donors and patients.

To achieve quality in a defined procedure, a laboratory may encounter constraints e.g.

Organizational constraints in terms of staffing patterns, finances available, training of staff, and/or
Technical constraints e.g. ability of laboratory to perform a specific test.

Need for Quality

A failure in the quality of blood collected or screening of donated blood unit can be very serious and may result in fatal consequences. If appropriate quality systems are designed, implemented and monitored, the issue of an improperly tested unit can be avoided.

Besides laboratory testing, a failure in the quality system can lead to numerous situations which may be potentially dangerous to the patient, i.e.

failure to identify the patient correctly
wrong sample labelling
mix-up of results amongst different patients
failure to detect presence of an abnormality in the patient's sample.
issue of unscreened blood due to faulty laboratory procedures

Therefore, it is very important to recognise the need for quality and implementation of quality assurance scheme in all laboratory procedures.

Quality Assurance and Quality Control

The difference between these two terms may be unclear to many people and the terms cannot be used interchangeably.

Quality Assurance

Quality assurance deals with the maintenance of a system to ensure that the performance in a laboratory is of the required quality.

In a blood transfusion centre, it means that a management system should exist to look into provision of a safe unit of blood and, if any errors are identified, these should be corrected.

Quality Control

Quality control is the inspection system which involves specific actions performed to monitor the effectiveness of the system and checks that the mistakes have not occured.

Quality System & Total Quality Management (TQM)

In a blood transfusion service, the quality system deals with all aspects to ensure that the product or the tested and 'safe unit of blood' is as safe as possible.

Quality system must be applied to all laboratories, whether small or more advance. It should include the implementation, maintenanc� and monitoring of the quality assurance system.

The introduction of a quality system in blood transfusion centre starts with :

indepth vision and knowledge of all the aspects of blood transfusion.
planning required for effective donor selection, donor screening, laboratory work, issue of safe blood and transfusion of blood to the recipient.
formulating the mechanism for monitoring to ensure that quality is maintained.

Total quality management includes:

Quality in procurement (donor, material, reagent)
Quality in preparation (efficient and effective blood component preparation)
Quality in design and development (improved techniques and procedures)
Quality in supply (transportation and service)

Laboratory Quality Assurance Scheme

Laboratory quality assurance scheme includes:

Proper identification of all samples
Validation of the sensitivity, specificity and reproducibility of new batch of test kits and reagents
Strict adherence to the recommended procedure
Use of the appropriate test and internal controls
Regular proficiency testing exercise
Adherence to safety guidelines and safe disposal.

Internal quality Assurance (IQA)

Internal quality assurance is meant to allow laboratory technicians to check their performance by themselves and help them to monitor the reliability of their technique. In other words, it deals with the measures taken by a local laboratory to maintain laboratory standards.

IQA includes procedures designed for continuous eualuation of the work of the laboratory concerned and it aims at achieving high level of safety and efficiency.

External quality assurance (EQA)

External quality assurance involves a central reference laboratory which monitors the standards of local laboratories.

EQA is a system whereby a set of reagents and techniques are assessed by an external source and the results of testing laboratory being compared with those of an approved reference laboratory.

Blood bank zone Next Articles