Related Experiment Video
Updated: Mar 8, 2026
Author Spotlight: Automated Infusion and Blood Sampling for Precise Hormonal Analysis in Conscious Mice
Published on: August 25, 2023
The Impact of an Electronic Ordering System on Blood Bank Specimen Rejection Rates
Stefanie K Forest1,2, Maryam Shirazi1,2, Charlotte Wu-Gall2
1From the Department of Pathology and Cell Biology, Columbia University Medical Center, New York, NY.
Objectives:
To evaluate the impact that an electronic ordering system has on the rate of rejection of blood type and screen testing samples and the impact on the number of ABO blood-type discrepancies over a 4-year period.
Methods:
An electronic ordering system was implemented in May 2011. Rejection rates along with reasons for rejection were tracked between January 2010 and December 2013.
Results:
A total of 40,104 blood samples were received during this period, of which 706 (1.8%) were rejected for the following reasons: 382 (54.0%) unsigned samples, 235 (33.0%) mislabeled samples, 57 (8.0%) unsigned requisitions, 18 (2.5%) incorrect tubes, and 14 (1.9%) ABO discrepancies. Of the samples, 2.5% were rejected in the year prior to implementing the electronic ordering system compared with 1.2% in the year following implementation ( P < .0001).
Conclusions:
Our data demonstrate that implementation of an electronic ordering system significantly decreased the rate of blood sample rejection.
