Inspectors give full accreditation to blood services

Published Feb. 12, 2009
By Steve Pivnick
81st Medical Group Public Affairs

KEESLER AIR FORCE BASE, BILOXI, MISS. -- Keesler Blood Services, which includes the donor center and the pathology/clinical laboratory's transfusion services, underwent a double-barreled inspection at the end of January and "watered the eyes" of their inspectors, resulting in full accreditation of the departments.

According to Capt. Jessica Hughes, donor center chief, inspections are conducted every two years. Two separate organizations were involved: the College of American Pathologists and the AABB. The AABB, founded in 1947 as the American Association of Blood Banks, is now an international association with members in 80 countries representing individuals and institutions involved in activities related to transfusion and cellular therapies, including transplantation medicine.

"The AABB does an assessment of our practices. The team designated to do so also inspect for adherence to CAP requirements, necessary to maintain accreditation," Captain Hughes said.

The two-person team, one from a Florida hospital and the other from a Texas blood donor center, visited Jan. 27-28 and "looked at everything: written procedures, records, training documents. They reviewed all of our processes," the captain explained.

"They even conducted a 'tracer,' following a unit of platelets from the transfusion service to the patient's bedside. They interviewed Staff Sgt. James Pounds from the intensive care unit about how a patient is transfused, addressing all the steps involved.

"The team comes with a very specific checklist and looks at all aspects of transfusion service and donor center practices," the captain commented. "They determine if we are in compliance. Even if we are, the assessors may recommend a better way to do something."

The inspectors found "zero deficiencies" for CAP and the "zero nonconformances" for AABB and made no recommendations following the inspection, "a feat which is very rare," one of the assessors said.

Col. (Dr.) Daniel Smith, medical director of clinical pathology, and Captain Hughes praised the 21 members of the donor center staff and 14 assigned to transfusion services for the outstanding results of this year's assessments.

"The blood services team works very hard to provide the best patient care and produce high quality blood products," the colonel remarked. "This assessment simply validated their dedication to our mission."