title: Quality is a matter of mind: proposed quality improvement through the implementation of best practice.
abstract: In the past two decades, blood component, production and transfusion therapy have undergone considerable changes in terms of preparation of purer and safer products. This has led to a real improvement in their clinical effectiveness and prevention of untoward effects. With new developments in "tailor made" products it becomes imperative to establish a system of Quality Management in blood transfusion, similar to those of pharmaceutical manufacturers of blood products. Such a system must be comprehensive to embody all aspects of monitoring from donors to recipients, including validation processes using "state of the art" methodology and technology. To achieve overall acceptability, such a quality system must be simple, reliable and practical. We propose a quality improvement programme through the implementation of 6 pointers of quality which lend themselves to both harmonization and standardization programmes in all blood centres.
authors.affiliation: North London Blood Transfusion Centre, Quality Assurance Laboratory, U.K.
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Vasconcelos
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Seghatchian
mesh_terms: D001772:Blood Cell Count / Q000295:instrumentation; D001803:Blood Transfusion; D003362:Cost-Benefit Analysis; D017707:Erythrocyte Transfusion; D006801:Humans; D017713:Platelet Transfusion; D010818:Practice Patterns, Physicians'; D011785:Quality Assurance, Health Care; D017749:Total Quality Management