Integration of automated systems in blood-banking services

The objectives, place and advantages of automation in blood-banking services are outlined with reference to the perennial need of blood services to achieve the optimum balance between fluctuating requirements for and supplies of blood while allowing for the brevity of most blood products' useful life-span. Regional, national and international integration of automated systems in blood services is then shown to depend upon mutual agreement concerning data definitions, formats and representations and the development of an internationally accepted standard blood data communication record is proposed.