Quality Control in the Blood Bank—A New Approach

Abstract

Most quality control programs in blood banking are concerned solely with control of laboratory testing and personnel and do not evaluate other areas of the blood bank or determine the proficiency of all personnel in the performance of clerical tasks. To achieve the latter goals in our quality control program, during a 15-month period, 1,143 deliberate errors were entered into routine aspects of all blood bank activities and then carefully monitored and controlled. Of 498, 400, and 245 errors sent to the office, nursing, and laboratory areas, respectively, 12 (2.4%), 58 (14.5%), and 29 (11.8%) errors were not detected. Introduction of this program was also accompanied by a significant increase in the number of real errors that were detected and presumably had not previously been recognized. The number of true errors detected increased from 4 to 43 to 73 during months 0 to 6, 7 to 12, and 13 to 15 of this study. Investigation and recording of each error on an Error Report Form has permitted evaluation of both personnel and systems and subsequent implementation of corrective action.