Product Managment - Return of Blood & Auditing

Maintaining proper storage is essential to ensure that the stored blood is safe and effective when transfused to a patient. Blood that you return will likely be sent to another hospital for use by their patients. Therefore, LifeShare Blood Centers will not guarantee return privileges. To ensure your privilege of returning blood, you must store blood and blood products in accordance with all applicable standards and regulations. Supporting documentation also must be provided as proof that proper storage conditions are maintained.

Supporting documentation must verify that appropriate storage temperature and conditions were maintained for all products while in the hospital’s custody:

  • Existing hospital accounts must provide copies of storage temperature charts and temperature logs for one week of each quarter for the week requested by their LifeShare center.
  • New accounts, during their first year, must provide copies of all temperature charts and temperature logs at the end of each quarter.

Types of records and procedures expected to be available in each hospital blood bank include but are not limited to the following:

  • Temperature charts & manual recording
  • Training records
  • Alarm sensor verifications
  • Equipment maintenance & validations
  • Procedures for reporting suspected transfusion related illnesses
  • Procedures to handle alarm tests & failures
  • Procedures to handle power outages
  • Procedures describing equipment maintenance
  • Procedures describing validation/verification

We encourage hospitals to call their local LifeShare Blood Centers contact with any questions regarding procedures for blood and blood product storage and related documentation.

LifeShare Blood Centers will annually conduct an audit using Form QP28 and inspect storage conditions and additional records at the client’s facility. This on-site inspection and record review does not release your hospital from its responsibilities to ensure that blood and blood products are handled and stored appropriately while at your facility. The purpose of this on-site inspection is to work with our hospitals to ensure the highest quality blood components for patients at all times. Together, we save lives.

   LifeShare Donor Centers