Blood Bank Computer Software (this one? that one? no one?)

[natalynn]

I manage a small 21 bed hospitals blood bank. There has recently been talk about letting us purchase a computer system for our blood bank. Currently we are using a logbook to record all reaction, and then inputting the results (not reactions) into our LIS.

 

Does anyone know of an afordable software available for such a small hospital?

Heres some numbers that may be helpful in determening what might suit us best:

Our monthly averages

T&S 300

antibody pannels 2

crossmatches 80

transfussions 7

 

We've gotten one quote for 12,000 instal, 1,500 per month, and that is not including the cost to intergrade with out LIS system for the lab. 

 

Thanks

[David Saikin]

That sounds like a very nice quote - my statistics are similar to yours, a few more panels and transfusions and a lot less T&S. Personally, I like HCLL - moderately expensive but worth it (to me) - I looked at Psyche's SBB, McKesson's Horizon (which is Wyndgate's Transfusion module), I know some folks that really like the Soft product; Meditech is good also.

Make certain that what you purchase satisfies your needs with little "extra" effort on your part (like having to register and discharge pts routinely). Another kudo is don't use the validation templates provided but develop your own that mirror your operation. This is a bit time consuming but worth it in the long run as you will find all the "bugs" in your installation and can have them fixed to your liking before you go live. The FDA will want to look at your data - or at least see that you have reams of paper that validate your system.

Good luck.

[tbostock]

What LIS system do you use for the rest of the Lab?

[Mabel Adams]

Psyche's system used to be web-based rather than on your own server.  When I looked at them 10 years ago they had not heard of electronic crossmatch.  

 

Meditech support is poor or was 5 + years ago when I last used it.  The guy who trained me on the Blood Bank module back at their office in MA told me that you couldn't use a barcode scanner on the BB module!  When I used Meditech I found fellow users on Bloodbanktalk and we formed an email group as we all converted to ISBT.  They were much more helpful than Meditech Support.  Meditech is a pretty well integrated system.  It is extremely customizable so that various users seem to have almost different systems.  It has some quirks--like you couldn't deal with an autologous unit that was labeled as Rh pos because the patient/donor was weak D positive and the patient sample was tested only at IS and thus was Rh negative.  I would link the unit to the patient and the patient's blood type would change in Meditech to Rh positive!  I hope they have fixed that by now.  Definitely not built by blood bankers.

 

Now we are on Horizon Blood Bank marketed by McKesson for Haemonetics (previously Wyndgate).  Avoid McKesson products, especially for the HIS.  We have used 2 different McKesson EMRs and the nurses and doctors are quite dissatisfied.  HBB is fine because it is just the rebranded Haemonetics product.  All McKesson modules are interfaced; it is not an integrated system so some parts don't play so well together.

[marvy1]

I have used: Progesa, Softbank, Sunquest, Cerner, Meditech and a couple more I can't remember. For Transfusion: Softbank is the best I used and Meditech is by far the worst.

[natalynn]

Thank you for the imput.

 

@Tbostock, our LIS system is Orchard Harvest, and sadly they do not have blood bank software.

 

I've been on the phone with both HCLL and Haemonetics today. I've worked with HCLL previously, but I believe it will be to expensive for our small hospital. The quote that Haemonetics told me over the phone is similar to the one I previously stated that was given by Psyche.

 

Sadly, it really comes down to the cost of it. I have to come up with a proposal that will allow the OK to move out of the stone ages.

[David Saikin]

Mabel - I'm glad I'm not the only one who feels that way about McKesson products.

[Dr. Pepper]

We have used Sunquest, which was a very good product, and now have Meditech, which I don't care for at all. Ditto on David's advice. Make sure you've got a thourough "needs" list (reads ISBT 128, donor module if you draw them, etc). Your vendors should be able to give you references - call those places and ask them about the good and bad features of the installation and training process and the  overall system. BB systems should be chockful of QA warnings if users try to do creative things; check out what your system offers. Flexibility to adapt to your particular needs is important. Interfacing with your LIS, HIS, EMR etc is important. See what's involved with entering any of your old data (ABO/Rh, antibodies, special patient needs) into the new system's historical database. Check out the management reports the system offers, and see if you/they can create custom ones if you need them. Building the background dictionaries and validating is a lot of work but in the end life should be easier for you and transfusion safer for your patients. Good luck.

[Kathyang]

I have used Softbank for several years and it is one of the best out right now.

[Mabel Adams]

Meditech required that we load every ISBT blood center and product into the system manually.  Haemonetics came with all the product codes and I think the US suppliers loaded.  This may have had to do with the timing of getting ISBT and the computer systems but would be worth asking about--especially if you use several suppliers or they import a lot.

 

CAP Today magazine (I think that is the name of it) has a comparison of the BBIS platforms.  I think it is always available somewhere on their website.

[Brenda K Hutson]

Have used Meditech, Sunquest, Cerner, HCLL.....of those:

1. Think Meditech may be great for Donor Facilities; but it is probably the most difficult system I have ever used

in the Transfusion Service!

2. Love HCLL for the Blood Bank

3. Don't like Sunquest for the Blood Bank.....used in a lot of places because the "whole" Lab is on the same system;

and it may be great for other depts.; but not my favorite for the Blood Bank.

4. Have not used Cerner Millineum so don't know about that.....original Cerner was fine.

5. Last place I worked used Softbank for the rest of the Lab and HCLL for Blood Bank. There was talk of switching

Blood Bank to Softlab; but since didn't occur when I was there, I cannot comment on it (but would have fought to

keep HCLL because I liked it so much). Very user-frienly in the Blood Bank environment; can almost "figure it

out" without being taught.

Brenda Hutson

[John C. Staley]

In my previous life we tried to install HCLL in a multifacility system and was asking it to do much more than it was ever intended to do.  It didn't work out but to be honest, for a single facility I really liked it.  Now that was about 7 years ago so I'm sure them made improvements but I think, for how it was intended to be used, it is an excellent system.

[labgirl153]

Have used Meditech (current facility), Cerner classic, Cerner mill, Sunquest, HCLL. 

 

- Cerner classic despite its primitive look is quite good. No longer supported however. Easy to branch from one function to another. Can see essential info on patient quickly w/o needing to dive through a maze (unlike meditech) to retrieve info. Very handy in emergent cases. Many faciities hang on to it for these reasons despite lack of support now.

 

-Cerner Mill is quite different. Takes a day or so to get acclimated to the icons but is quite good as well and handy in all sorts of situations, esp. with emergent cases. One can turn off/on features for individuals too if the screen gets too busy with icons. 

 

-HCLL might be okay if properly programmed, but it was a nightmare at one facility where the techs programmed it instead having professional programmers build it; therefore it crashed often, was slow, illogical, circuitous and in general made everyone want to scream and hate coming to work. Horrible for emergent cases.

 

-Sunquest: Have worked off/on with Sunquest/Misys/Sunquest again for years. Used to love it back in the old days. New GUI was fine too but haven't worked with the newest iteration so am not sure why it suddenly is frowned upon by some. 

 

-Meditech: NOT impressed with the BB functionality. Maze-like to getting essential info. On looking up an accession, must scroll endlessly to find exactly what was performed. The screen info is very primitive in its presentation. Everything is run together as though it had been programmed by a high schooler on DOS steroids. It's fine with routines but there are coding issues and as everyone knows, the $$ is often not there to address those issues, or there is $$ but it's directed elsewhere.

Edited November 20, 2014 by labgirl153

[kirkaw]

This discussion is quite helpful! I am very happy to hear of so many (good and bad) experiences with blood bank software. I worked with Cerner Classic years ago and really liked it but have never seen Cerner Millenium.

I am currently using Safetrace/HBB - the Haemonetics/Wyndgate product and I am not a fan. I am not sure how it would work for a single facility or a small one, but it's management reports are terrible....or nonexistent and it is not intuitive to use at all. I will say that it has some nice safeguards and we do have it interfaced to the McKession product HLAB and to our automated Ortho analyzer, the ProVue.

[Eagle Eye]

This discussion is quite helpful! I am very happy to hear of so many (good and bad) experiences with blood bank software. I worked with Cerner Classic years ago and really liked it but have never seen Cerner Millenium.

I am currently using Safetrace/HBB - the Haemonetics/Wyndgate product and I am not a fan. I am not sure how it would work for a single facility or a small one, but it's management reports are terrible....or nonexistent and it is not intuitive to use at all. I will say that it has some nice safeguards and we do have it interfaced to the McKession product HLAB and to our automated Ortho analyzer, the ProVue.

I believe the system comes with 30 pre-built reports isn't it? were they helpful or not?

When they say reports means exception reports is it?

[ABQ bloodbanker]

I have used quite a few of the systems:

Sunquest - not very good - not logical for a bloodbanker's mind...

eProgesa - the donor side only - not too bad

SafeTrace (or Horizon Blood Bank) - very cumbersome, but has good features.  No QC module to speak of and the reports are terrible though

HCLL - not too bad - easy to learn

Meditech - Loved the older version - haven't had the opportunity to use the window's based one.

HemoCare - basically good for a DOS system - no longer supported.

I think they are all better than doing everything on paper though:)

[Dansket]

If it doesn't have FDA 510K for computer crossmatch, forget it!

[BirlaMsoft]

I have used Birlamedisoft for several years for Blood bank and it is one the best software which helps to maintain all reports like billing, inventory, accounts and masters registers for any blood bank organization. I would like to suggest this software to anyone having the small and medium hospital.