Consultant, Quality Assurance American Red Cross Broomall, Pennsylvania
Proposed Session Description: Blood transfusion and cell therapies are data driven fields with lots of information to record and track. While many laboratories have been slowly decreasing the number of file cabinets in use, thanks to blood establishment computer systems (BECS) and electronic health records (EHRs), there is still a lot of paper in most of our workspaces. Paper is hard to track and can be limiting for communication and storage. Workflows that can be moved electronically and eliminate paper allow for improved tracking and trending and can provide the opportunity for automation. We present real life examples from blood center and hospital lab operations on successful electronic workflow applications.
Learning Objectives:
Describe the challenges manual paper workflows can introduce from safety and quality perspectives
Explain needs for IT build and staff training when changing a process
Examine real world success stories from blood banks and hospitals in implementing electronic paperless processes.
