title: Guidelines for transfusion in Norway.
abstract: The Norwegian guidelines for transfusion are harmonised in terms of standards with the European directives, but we have two areas where there are substantial differences. First, in Norway a blood donor is defined as a patient in legal terms. Secondly, we have stricter criteria for geographical origin of the people who are allowed to donate blood than most other countries. It is a challenge to provide information stating that these guidelines are related to the risk of transmitting infectious disease rather than discrimination. Increased focus on hemovigilance and closer contact between the blood banks and the national health authorities will be major issues in future work to improve the quality of Transfusion Medicine in Norway.
authors.affiliation: Blood Bank, Haukeland University Hospital, N-5021 Bergen, Norway. tor.hervig@helse-bergen.no
authors.forename: Tor
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Hervig
authors.forename: Oystein
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Flesland
authors.forename: Vibeke
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Svenningsen
authors.forename: Vidar
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Bosnes
mesh_terms: D001782:Blood Donors / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D001803:Blood Transfusion / Q000592:standards*; D005062:European Union; D017408:Guidelines as Topic; D006801:Humans; D009664:Norway; D011785:Quality Assurance, Health Care