A colleague at an academic medical center in Northern California reports that according to their interpretation of the AABB Standards, they need to retain records such as the name of the transfused product, the donor unit/pool identification number, the date and time of transfusion, the pre- and post-transfusion vital signs, the volume transfused, and the identification of the transfusionist, and records of any transfusion complications for no less than 10 years. The inquiring colleague wonders if the actual practice in medical the community is more rigorous than the aforementioned. She states that at her hospital they have paper transfusion records that date back more than 20 years, and that for the last 10 years they have maintained electronic records. Short of scanning and indexing the old paper records, she thinks that it is doubtful that paper information could be located when/if required. She wonders if hospitals maintain transfusion records for >10 years, and if so, what forms of storage and retrieval have been implemented? How often are searches made through records that are more than 10 years old?

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Ira A. Shulman, MD
CBBS e-Network Forum Editor & Moderator