Abstract
The most serious errors in transfusion therapy are mistransfusion and blood type incompatible transfusion caused by human error. In order to increase safety, the Juntendo University Hospital introduced a bar code verification system where blood products were verified using patients' wristband bar code. To evaluate effectiveness and possible problems of this system, we conducted a questionnaire survey asking medical staff, who had used the system, and patients, who had received blood transfusions, about their experience with it. Both parties evaluated the system as very safe. We concluded that the system gives a sense of security not only to patients but also to medical staff. It is useful for the improvement of medical services and medical staff support. In addition, operation improvement helped to decrease the return rate and scrappage rate of red cell components after the introducing the system. This study proves that the introduction of this system and the restructuring of the actual operation are effective ways to improve safety management helping to prevent human errors, and it is very profitable in the sense of improving quality of services for patients and proper use of blood products.
