THE BIG BROTHER of BLOOD DONATIONS
Thai-developed management system enables hospitals to match patients with donor agencies and track flow of donated units
AThai developer successfully created a blood donation management system called Smart Blood Bank, claiming to be the first of its kind in Thailand. The Smart Blood Bank system was created to tackle the problem of blood donation management as the amount of blood donated in the country is insufficient to support demand.
“One of the reasons that the donated blood is inadequate is because some of the blood cannot be used, and the donated blood does not match with recipients. The donated blood is also limited in some areas,” said Damrong Sangvanrat, CEO of One Two Gold Inter Group and a regular blood donor.
“All are due to a problem of management,” he said.
Realising the issue, Damrong developed the smart blood bank software, using technology to help solve problems of human resources, reducing risks, cost and time.
The system’s software is similar to a company’s customer relations management software that keeps track of customers. The Smart Blood Bank system enables hospitals to forecast the number of upcoming blood donors and efficiently manage its donation queue. But it does much more than that. The system also tracks storage conditions to ensure that stock doesn’t spoil and can instantly find the right match for a patient.
The system is comprised of four modules. The first module tracks an organisation’s blood donation schedule, which serves as a co-ordination point between blood donors and the blood agency.
The second module consists of the mobile application, “Donora”, which provides alerts for the places and times available for blood donations and records the appointment schedule. Users are required to register with the app so an organisation that works on blood donation, like the Red Cross, will be able to track blood types and the number of upcoming donors. They can then co-ordinate with hospitals that require the blood.
The third module is for blood donation agencies and hospitals, and governs registration and blood screening. It helps prevent any duplicated donations and reduces risk among officials who handle the donated blood.
The fourth module assists hospitals with inventory management, alerting hospital officials of any issues with storage and usage, such as if the temperature has changed in storage units, or if a bag containing the wrong blood type for a patient was delivered by mistake.
An identification tag that uses radio frequency identification technology is attached to each bag of donated blood. This technology also will allow the medical facility to identify the age of blood so that officials can use it before it expires, Damrong said.
For the general public who are interested in donating blood, the Donora mobile app will be available for free download on the Apple Store and Google Play starting tomorrow.
The smart blood bank system has been in use at Saraburi Hospital as a pilot programme, and will be implemented very soon at Chao Phya Abhaibhubejhr Hospital in Prachin Buri province. The software also won the SME Thailand Inno Award 2016 in the category of excellent software product.
SME Thailand Inno Award recognises Thai small-to-medium businesses and start-ups with innovative business models.
For more information, visit smethailandclub. com/innoawards2017.