[External Quality Control in Immunohematology of National Medical Center's Blood Bank. History and present]

For the proper functioning of the Immunohematology Area, an External Quality Control was established since 1973 through a program that evaluates the performance of the laboratories of the Blood Bank and transfusion services that carry out immunohematology tests. This program consists of sending panel cells to participating blood banks or services, which are phenotyped erythrocyte samples previously studied as problem cases but whose results are unknown by the participating laboratories. The processes in which the program is of most importance are determination of the ABO group, determination of Rh, performance of the direct and indirect Coombs test, and pre-transfusion compatibility tests. It was carried out an observational and retrospective study of the results obtained in the 2020 period from 104 units participating in the Immunohematology Quality Control Program of the National Medical Center's Blood Bank. A panel of cells was sent for external quality control of immunohematology every 45 days, resulting in 9 panels for each unit in the studied period. Compliance with the program was observed in the general result (79.6%), i.e., there was a decrease in the participation of the registered units. Of a maximum score of 100% to be obtained, it was observed a general result of 95.3% compliance of the participating units. The results obtained confirm the good general training of the immunohematology laboratories of the participating units. Yet, as in any external control program, it becomes clear that obtaining an erroneous result is a risk that can occur in any laboratory.