PHLEBOTOMY AND BLOOD BANKING: A COLLABORATIVE APPROACH TO TRANSFUSION SAFETY

Abstract

Phlebotomy and blood banking are closely interlinked disciplines that collaborate to provide safe and effective transfusion therapy. Safety remains an essential issue during and after transfusion. Despite significant advances, transfusion remains an integral part of modern medicine, highly relied upon in surgical procedures, oncological patient treatment, and multiple hematological afflictions. Collected samples sent to the blood bank must be properly handled to prevent any time loss between collection and analysis, as this would hamper the database system used for communication with the prescribing doctor. In the past decade, tremendous advances have been made in laboratory technology and testing automation; however, human errors remain formidable, resulting in longer turnaround times. Transfusion cannot be appreciated purely as a technical process; instead, it must be perceived as a continuum of laboratory services spanning from cross-matching to proper follow-up of adverse effects, emphasizing the health care professional’s responsibility in this life-saving therapy.

Phlebotomy and blood banking possess distinct information technologies operating independently from one another. Hence, additional pre-analytic specifications must be respected to ensure that compatibility testing remains free from human error, and to prevent erroneous sample processing which may further interfere with sample integrity. Baseline phlebotomy education is often neglected within the transfusion perspective, leaving inexperienced technicians ill-prepared to provide a timely transfusion. Furthermore, both disciplines share full accountability for transfusion therapy, even if their individual responsibilities are not interdependent .