The Comprehensive Blood Bank Survey Program of the College of American Pathologists, 1976

The Comprehensive Blood Bank Survey Program for 1976 still shows that the participants are performing well on ABO and Rh typing (accuracy greater than 96.6%), antibody detection (greater than 97.0%), and crossmatching (greater than 97.3%). The only problem with less accuracy than that stated involved a specimen with an extremely weak antibody. Some errors are still due to failure to fill out results. In the 1976 survey, four ungraded problems were included as attempts to study the "state of the art." The problems consisted of an antibody whose titer was to be determined, a mixture of Rh+ and Rh-- cells to be detected, and two multiple-antibody problems. The results obtained in these studies are discussed. Finally, the participants were asked questions about the amount of Rh immune globulin used and the indications for its use, the incidence and types of transfusion reactions seen, and the notations used by laboratories to record results. The answers to these questions are also documented.