The Impact of an Electronic Ordering System on Blood Bank Specimen Rejection Rates.

Objectives: To evaluate the impact that an electronic ordering system has on the rate of rejection of blood type and screen testing samples and the impact on the number of ABO blood-type discrepancies over a 4-year period.

Methods: An electronic ordering system was implemented in May 2011. Rejection rates along with reasons for rejection were tracked between January 2010 and December 2013.

Results: A total of 40,104 blood samples were received during this period, of which 706 (1.8%) were rejected for the following reasons: 382 (54.0%) unsigned samples, 235 (33.0%) mislabeled samples, 57 (8.0%) unsigned requisitions, 18 (2.5%) incorrect tubes, and 14 (1.9%) ABO discrepancies. Of the samples, 2.5% were rejected in the year prior to implementing the electronic ordering system compared with 1.2% in the year following implementation ( P  < .0001).

Conclusions: Our data demonstrate that implementation of an electronic ordering system significantly decreased the rate of blood sample rejection.