Blood Bank

The Blood Bank manages the safe journey of every unit of blood from the vein of a donor to the vein of a patient. BridgeERP HMS tracks the full chain — register the donor, collect the donation, screen it for transmissible infections, release it as a typed and labelled unit into inventory, crossmatch it against a patient's request, issue it to the ward, record the transfusion, and report any reaction. Every step is a controlled state change, so at any moment you can trace exactly where a unit is and prove it was safe to give. This overview orients blood-bank technicians, screeners and the bank manager before the detail pages.

The chain of custody

Blood safety is fundamentally a chain-of-custody problem: a unit must never be given unless every prior step passed. BridgeERP HMS enforces that as a sequence of records, each gating the next:

• Donor — the person, with blood group, deferral status and donation history.
• Donation — the collection event that fills a bag.
• Screening — the transfusion-transmissible-infection (TTI) tests that must all be negative before release.
• Unit (product) — the typed, dated, labelled component placed into inventory.
• Request — the clinician's order for blood for a named patient.
• Crossmatch — the compatibility test between unit and patient.
• Issue — release of the unit to the ward.
• Transfusion — administration at the bedside.
• Reaction — the haemovigilance report when a transfusion goes wrong.

Where to find it

Everything lives under the top-level Blood Bank application:

• Blood Bank → Donors, Donor Sessions and Donations — recruit donors and collect blood.
• Blood Bank → Screening Results — the TTI test records that gate release.
• Blood Bank → Available Units — the live inventory of releasable components.
• Blood Bank → Crossmatch Worklist, Requests, Issues and Transfusions — the clinical-supply side.
• Blood Bank → Reactions Register — haemovigilance reports.
• Blood Bank → Stock Dashboard — stock by group and component.
• Blood Bank → Configuration → Deferral Reasons and Settings.

The donor-to-inventory half is detailed on Donors & units; the request-to-transfusion half on Requests & transfusions.

Blood Bank menus at a glance

Every screen in the bank sits directly under the top-level Blood Bank application. This map shows what each menu opens, roughly in chain order:

Before you start

• Load Deferral Reasons so screeners can defer donors with the correct waiting period.
• Confirm the Settings for the bank (facility scope, storage) are configured.
• Ensure clinical staff records exist, since donations, screenings and crossmatches record who performed and verified them.

How a unit moves through the bank

1. A donor is registered and assessed as Eligible.
2. A donation is collected; it runs In Progress → Completed.
3. The bag is screened; only when all TTI tests are negative does it pass and become Releasable.
4. The donation is processed into one or more units, which start Quarantined and move to Available on release.
5. A clinician raises a request; the bank crossmatches a compatible unit, which becomes Reserved.
6. The unit is issued to the ward (Issued) and transfused (Transfused).
7. Any adverse event is logged in the Reactions Register.

Unit lifecycle states

Donations, screening and components

Three controls do most of the safety work, and it helps to understand them at a glance before working the detail pages. First, a donation is identified by a unique bag ID and can be whole blood or an apheresis collection (plasma, platelets or double red cell); a triple or quadruple bag lets one collection be split into several components. Second, every collection passes a mandatory screening panel — HIV, HBV, HCV, syphilis and malaria — and only a record where all five results are negative becomes Releasable; until then the resulting unit stays Quarantined and cannot be issued. Third, a donation is processed into typed components (packed red cells, plasma, platelets, cryoprecipitate) each with its own expiry rule, so a single bag can serve several different clinical needs.

This separation is what makes the chain auditable: a unit's group, its screening result and its expiry are all recorded against it, so a technician can prove a unit was safe and in-date at the moment it was crossmatched and issued. The detail of each step — donor registration, deferral handling, the TTI panel and the inventory list — is on Donors & units.

Components and shelf life

Different components keep for very different periods, which is why stock rotation matters. The bank therefore tracks each unit's collection date, computed expiry and days-to-expiry so short-dated units are used first.

Donor eligibility states

A donor is reusable, so the bank tracks each person's fitness to give on every visit. A donor's deferral status determines whether a fresh donation can even be started:

A deferral reason carries a severity of Temporary or Permanent and a default waiting period in days, so screeners apply consistent return dates across the team. After a whole-blood donation the system also computes an earliest next-eligible date (last donation + 90 days).

Roles & access

Stock dashboard

The Blood Bank → Stock Dashboard shows, per blood group and component, the available units, reserved units, units expiring soon and a stock level indicator — the daily control point for spotting shortages before a STAT request arrives.

Tips & troubleshooting

Related

• Donors & units — donors, donations, screening, inventory and deferrals.
• Requests & transfusions — requests, crossmatch, issue, transfusion and reactions.