EVALUATION OF A CENTRALIZED COMPUTER SYSTEM FOR REAL-TIME SURVEY OF THE TEMPERATURE OF BLOOD REFRIGERATORS

For centralized blood services, the establishment of intelligent systems to secure the quality of blood products is mandatory. One such responsibility is to control the temperature of blood products, because inappropriate storage conditions can ultimately pose a life-threatening risk to a patient. Although blood refrigerators have their own thermometer and record system, alarms are apt to be ignored and records are not well documented. In September 2002, we have established a centralized computer system to check the temperature of fifteen refrigerators at a blood service and two at a certain ward. Temperatures are remotely recorded, and when abnormalities occur, computer systems issue an alarm to staff at the blood service. In total, 107 records generated for one year were analyzed. One case involved the malfunction of the external cooling unit, while the remaining 106 with abnormally high temperature were caused by incomplete closure of refrigerator doors. When staff receive an alarm, they immediately check the records of the computer system, and then contact the ward or a 24-hour service company if needed. In conclusion, this computer system for temperature survey is useful in securing the quality of blood products and can save staff time by reducing troublesome tasks.