We are also just CAP accredited due to the high cost of AABB accreditation. (It is a 180 bed hospital.)

The facility that I'm at now is fairly small and has never been AABB accredited. The 2 previous facilities that I worked, were both AABB accredited and while I was there, each facility dropped the AABB accreditation. My feeling is that when AABB went to the Quality Plan approach, the tools they decided upon were not really relevant to a Transfusion Service; for most hospital based TS, this became an exercise in paperwork that had little to no impact on quality. I have never had the luxury of working in a facility where I had the time or the staff to dedicate to a process that does not seem contribute to the concept of quality patient care. I do CAP inspections and for the most part, when I go into facilities their quality plan is "just a document that they had to write to meet regulatory standards". The manual is not used and is only updated immediately prior to an inspection.

Once AABB comes up with a tool that is useful for a hospital setting and doesn't take a dedicated Quality person, I may reconsider my position. Until then, I will keep my personal membership and continue to write and enforce policies and procedures that adhere to AABB standards without the cost and inordinate amount of paperwork of a facililty membership.

Wow- I was trying to get my thoughts together on this topic and there they all were written much more perfectly than I ever could have done on my own!

Thank you for saying it so well! I miss the "feather in our cap" as someone put it - but the public has no idea or care that we are no longer AABB. I have not seen the quality of our BB diminish one bit for not having AABB inspections.

Edited December 8, 200915 yr by Karen Olsen

We dropped our AABB Accreditation last year ... and no, I do not see that the quality of our department has suffered. If anything, I have more time to spend on the REAL stuff. I still buy the Standards and will continue to buy the Technical Manual and other books from them ... but the 'non-member' prices nowhere near make up for the thousands of dollars they are requesting for membership nowadays.

Yes, missing 'the feather', but it was just getting to be a very expensive, heavy feather ...

Everything you said, JPCroke, is exactly how I feel.

:bonk:I agree. We dropped AABB about 10 yearsago. CAP, FDA,JCAHO, State Board of Health ought to be enough to cope with.

It must be at least 15 years ago that we dropped AABB. We still get visited by CAP, FDA, Joint Commission, the company our hospital hires to do quarterly "mock" inspections, and FACT. That is more than enough to keep us busy and keep the quality up. I maintain individual membership in AABB and purchase the Standards, Technical Manual, and other publications as needed.

hi

how are you sir.would you please help me getting quality manual for blood bank

bahrawiaa@ngha.med.sa