Blood bank a part of Laboratory department that are responsible for collecting, processing, testing, safety and storage of donated blood. The software which maintains to store all the information related to blood bank is termed as Blood bank Software. The blood bank software can be used in any hospitals provided they must have blood bank. Most blood collected for medical use is transfused into patients who need blood because of trauma, for surgery or as therapeutic treatment of diseases, such as sickle cell disease and anemia and as a result of chemotherapy. According to the American Association of Blood Banks (AABB) 23 million units of blood are transfused annually.

RESPONSIBILITY OF BLOOD BANK

Whole blood is usually separated out later by the laboratory into its component parts for use: white blood cells, red blood cells, plasma and platelets. Before taking blood from a donor, Blood bank staff asks questions about the donor's heath history, information about possible exposure to infections or pregnancy and take the potential donor's blood pressure, pulse and temperature. Any abnormalities will cause the staff to defer the donor--to disqualify them from donation. The deferred donor is then registered and all the detail information of the donor is saved.

Blood banks are responsible for testing and protecting the safety of the blood supply. Aside from manually screening donors, blood banks test all donated blood for ABO and Rh group (known as "blood types"), as well as for multiple transmissible diseases and contamination. Blood banks work to ensure that the blood supply is free of infection, unexpected antibodies present (from pregnancy or past donor transfusions) and ready for use. Diseases tested for in U.S. based blood banks include hepatitis B, hepatitis C, HIV-1 and HIV-2, human T-lymph tropic virus, and syphilis. Tests that aren't required, but commonly performed, also screen for West Nile virus and Chagas disease.

Blood banks work to ensure a continuously available safe blood supply by properly storing it--keeping the blood components labeled and refrigerated or frozen. Many blood banks are also centers of research, using a portion of donated blood to further study blood cells, diseases and how to improve blood safety and storage. Several major blood banks are also involved in cord-blood research, a relatively new area of blood research that has the potential to treat previously untreatable diseases and as a replacement for bone-marrow transplants. Cord blood, which contains stem cells, is collected from volunteer birthing mothers who donate their newborns' placentas and umbilical cords.

ADVANCED TECHNOLOGY

Now a days, online blood bank software is also available, which helps the user to know all the features. The donor can download his report from that particular hospital site.

BENEFITS

• Easily available at required time.

• Safety, secure and free from infection.

• Exchange of blood.