Blood Products at a Click of the Mouse

It's a trailblazing premiere - together with the software company Atavus, T-Systems, Deutsche Telekom's business customer and system solutions unit, is implementing a high-security blood database. This means that transfusion medicine facilities can be located nationwide and worldwide extremely quickly at a click of a mouse, for example, in order to locate seldom required stocks of rare blood groups. Furthermore, the blood database also enables these facilities to search their own stocks and to control them logistically. And finally, this digital platform is the basis for direct contact with other transfusion medicine facilities.

This is Germany's first-ever uniform, standardized, nationwide data-capturing system as well as a transfusion medicine alliance encompassing many institutes. For instance, hospitals, municipal blood banks, and the German Red Cross merely need an ISDN connection in order to access the network. Application Service Providing (ASP) offers a cost-effective solution for using the database service.

BloodBankingCenter: simplified, highly secure logistics

The BloodBankingCenter (BBC) facilitates the complete control of blood bank operations. The advantage of this ASP solution compared to purchasing a software license is that users do not have to invest heavily in software and hardware; the rental fee of the BloodBankingCenter is based on the facility's blood-product sales. Nor do users require IT staff for administration: T-Systems and Atavus provide a 24-hour service. Thanks to regular updates, the software is always up to the minute. Adaptations, for instance, to new EU directives, official requirements and medical regulations are also carried out as part of support services. Other advantages: The BBC is based on the tried-and-tested "ServiceCenter" industrial standard supplied by Peregrine (USA). The database can be installed on practically all established server and operating systems from Linux to Microsoft. All databases with SQL capability are also supported.

30-year data management guarantee

Particularly when it comes to the security of blood products, the BloodBankingCenter meets the highest demands. The system is based on the unambiguous documentation of diagnoses for blood groups and infection serology as well on a high degree of automation in laboratory diagnosis and their transmission into the system. This reliably rules out any mixing up of blood products or the supply of infected blood stocks. The software also rules out human error when it comes to cross-matching and the selection of blood products from the stock. The BBC, of course, also permits the tracking of blood that has been purchased, sold or already transfused right through to the donor or recipient – with a 30-year guarantee for data management.

Blood Network: distributed production – short-notice, nation-wide availability

The BloodBankingCenter forms the foundation for a central blood database: For this purpose, each institute makes a certain share of its products available online. This makes it possible to respond directly in the event of an emergency or disaster. The quantity, availability, and location of the blood required, even rare blood stocks, can be identified in the shortest time possible. Apart from lower production and procurement costs, the share of blood going out of date can be reduced by at least 30%.

T-Systems is responsible for setting up and operating the highly available network technology: The blood database will be integrated into the "Branchennetz Gesundheitswesen" – Health Sector Network - that was presented at Medica 2004. Local and regional access to the network requires an ISDN connection or broadband access such as T-DSL. Mobile access is also easily possible. At an international level, T-Systems uses global MPLS (Multi Protocol Label Switching) lines in order to provide secure and prioritized data transmission in the Blood Network.