Quality assurance in the blood bank. Studies of technologist performance

A series of experiments was conducted to assess the performance of technologists in the blood bank, with particular reference to precision and accuracy in the technical and mechanical aspects of routine work, including preparation of erythrocyte suspensions, pipetting, interpretation of hemagglutination, detection of mixed-field agglutination, detection of weak alloantibodies, and antibody titration and scoring. The authors conclude that use of semiquantitative technics contributes significantly to imprecision in blood bank work. A plea is made for expediture of increased effort in quality assurance programs directed toward the technical staff.