Patient safety with blood products administration using wireless and bar-code technology

Supported by a grant from the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, a University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics interdisciplinary research team created an online data-capture-response tool utilizing wireless mobile devices and bar code technology to track and improve blood products administration process. The tool captures 1) sample collection, 2) sample arrival in the blood bank, 3) blood product dispense from blood bank, and 4) administration. At each step, the scanned patient wristband ID bar code is automatically compared to scanned identification barcode on requisition, sample, and/or product, and the system presents either a confirmation or an error message to the user. Following an eight-month, 5 unit, staged pilot, a 'big bang,' hospital-wide implementation occurred on February 7, 2005. Preliminary results from pilot data indicate that the new barcode process captures errors 3 to 10 times better than the old manual process.