Terry
You state "We do not track donors, perform electronic crossmatches or anything that needs to be validated according to NY-DOH." This causes me concern because there are FDA requirements for use of software in the blood bank, whether you are only registered or are licensed.
Please see 21 CFR 211.68 and, more importantly, Compliance Program, Chapter 42 - Blood and Blood Products, Inspection of Licensed and Unlicensed Blood Banks, Brokers, Reference Laboratories, and Contractors- 7342.001 (Issued 7/18/2003), Attachment H at http://www.fda.gov/cber/cpg/7342001bld.htm#attH. This is the guidance that invesitagtors use when conducting inspections of blood establishments. They will be looking to "Determine which operations are computerized and how the user validated the computer system on-site to demonstrate that it performs the intended functions accurately and reliably." Others who have used Off-the-Shelf Software (OTSS) (as software such as Microsoft Access is called) have found that it does not always perform as they expected it would.
Elizabeth,
The following quotes, also from the Compliance Program referenced above might help you convince your pathologist that his idea is a bad one.
"All software, including software developed in-house, used to manufacture blood and blood components, or to maintain data for making decisions about donor (suitability) eligibility, release products for transfusion or further manufacture are devices under Section 201(h) of the FD&C Act. The device provisions such as: registration as a device manufacturer, product listing, medical device reporting and compliance with the quality system regulation and pre-market notification 510(k) or application apply to the device software manufacturer."
"FDA has previously advised blood banks to transition to either a cleared software product or to one for which a manufacturer was actively pursuing clearance or to submit a plan to convert its in-use computer software."
"Blood establishments that developed software for their own use and that did not ship it interstate are subject to the Quality System Regulation requirements (21 CFR 820), the CGMPs for Blood and Blood Components (21 CFR 606), and the CGMP’s for Finished Pharmaceuticals (21 CFR 211)."
"FDA deems a blood establishment that develops software for its own use as a medical device manufacturer and; therefore, subject to the Quality System Regulation."
I hope this helps!
Sheryl Kochman
Chief, Devices Review Branch
DBA/OBRR/CBER/FDA