I'm at a moderate sized outpatient lab and we're looking into providing RBCs and T&S to some local rehab hospitals who don't have a blood supplier anymore (<30 units/mo).  I've worked in several rural hospitals that haven't used a dedicated BB LIS and personally I don't think it would be worth the hassle or price to bring one on.  What do you all think on this?

I could see it maybe being worth it if we did more volume, AB id's, or product modifications, but I'm wondering how hard I should push back on the idea of an LIS.  It seems like manual documentation would be easier, given the scope of what we're planning to do.

I would recommend getting the LIS.

It will provide a level of patient safety that you can't get with paper.

It improves workflow, especially if you are using automation.

Decreases documentation errors and omissions.

It will simplify billing.

It will vastly reduce the piles of paper documentation that you would otherwise be storing for years - patient, donor and potentially QC (depending on the software).

It simplifies inventory management, especially when you get look-backs and recalls from your blood supplier years down the road.

We are a smaller hospital that went to an LIS just a few years ago. I can't imagine ever going back to paper (gives me nightmares actually!). It has definitely reduced my workload in terms of all the record keeping, reporting, etc. that is required. I am filling out fewer error reports and deviations from SOP. With staffing issues a 'normal' thing now, I need all the time I can find to do all the other things I need to get done, including working on the bench.

Are you going to do the reaction workups or refer those?