[Computerization of hospital blood banks in France]

In France, most blood products are delivered by the établissement francais du sang, directly to the recipients, and hospital blood banks deliver a minor part, but are independent from it. However that may be, hospital blood banks are hazardous activities regarding to recipients, blood products, blood supply of the hospital and regional blood supply. Because of the high risk level, a computerized information system is compulsory for all hospital blood banks, except for those only devoted to vital emergency transfusion. On the field, the integration of computerization in the different processes is very heterogeneous. So, it has been decided to publish guidelines for computerizing hospital blood banks information systems and production management. They have been built according to risk assessment and are intended to minimize those risks. The principle is that all acquisition and processing of data about recipients or blood products and tracking, must be fully computerized and that the result of all manual processes must be checked by computer before proceeding to the next step. The guidelines list the different processes and, for each of them, the functions the software must play. All together, they form the basic level all hospital blood banks should reach. Optional functions are listed. Moreover, the guidelines are also aimed to be a common tool for regional health authorities who supervise hospital blood banks.