[Necessity of a 24-hour system of blood transfusion testing]

The preventive effects of a 24-hour system of blood transfusion testing on mistyping of transfused blood was examined. Blood transfusion tests have been performed by blood transfusion technologists during working hours and by physicians at other times. In March 2000, we introduced a system in which technologists perform blood transfusion tests after working hours. Technologists of the Blood Transfusion Unit and Central Clinical Laboratory perform the test jointly, and column agglutination technology was introduced as the test method. A computer system setup exclusively for the testing was also introduced to perform computer cross-matching. Since transfusion error is likely to occur during emergency blood transfusion, a manual was established to prioritize safety. After introduction of the system, mistyping that may have been caused by inaccurate blood test results markedly decreased, confirming the usefulness of this system for prevention of mistyping. In addition, transfusion errors also decreased in wards and the improved system increased the safety of the entire medical care system. The frequency of mistyping was about 1% when physicians performed blood typing, showing the importance of clinical technologists for blood transfusion tests.