Anonymous Vitals Matching for Accurate Blood Donor Eligibility
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
The current plasma donation process is prone to errors due to manual entry of vitals data from devices into donor software, leading to miscalculations of donor eligibility, increased time for corrections, and potential acceptance of ineligible donors.
Innovation Solution
A blood donation system that uses a networked association engine to automatically match deidentified vitals data from unique vitals devices with donor records, utilizing a BECS database client to fetch donor identities and additional information, and a decision-making framework to determine eligibility, thereby reducing human error.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If manual entry of vitals data is used, then staff can input data into donor software, but errors occur in reading or inputting vitals leading to miscalculation of donor eligibility
Solution Approach 1:
The patent replaces the manual mechanical process of reading and entering vitals data with an automated electronic system. The vitals device automatically transmits data to the donor software through electronic communication, eliminating the manual transcription process that causes errors. This substitution of mechanical manual entry with automated electronic data transfer directly resolves the contradiction by improving reliability while maintaining ease of operation.
Solution Approach 2:
The vitals device performs self-service by automatically transmitting its own data to the donor software without requiring staff intervention. The device includes functionality to send vitals information electronically, allowing the system to serve itself rather than requiring manual data entry. This self-service capability eliminates human error in data transcription while maintaining operational simplicity.
2Reliability
If manual matching of vitals data to donor records is performed, then staff can ensure data is matched with correct donor, but the process is cumbersome and prone to error
Solution Approach 1:
The patent replaces the manual mechanical process of searching for and matching donor records with an automated electronic system. The system automatically receives the donor's unique identifier from the vitals device, queries the donor database electronically, and retrieves the correct donor record without staff intervention. This electronic substitution eliminates manual searching errors and significantly reduces the time required for donor identification and matching.
Solution Approach 2:
The system performs preliminary action by pre-establishing the electronic connection between the vitals device and donor database, and by having donor records pre-loaded and indexed in the database. When a donor arrives, the system is already prepared to immediately query and match the donor using their unique identifier, eliminating the need for manual record searching and preparation time.
3Reliability
If deidentified vitals messages are transmitted, then data privacy is protected, but matching with donor records requires additional processing
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces an intermediary element - the unique identifier - that serves as a bridge between the deidentified vitals message and the donor record. The vitals message contains no personal information but includes this identifier, which the system uses to query the donor database and retrieve the matching record. This intermediary approach maintains data privacy by keeping vitals messages deidentified while enabling accurate matching through the identifier linkage, without significantly increasing process complexity.
Data Source
AI summary
A blood product donation management method includes determining that a donor is at a location associated with a given vitals device at a given time. A blood establishment computer system receives a vitals message with vitals information relating to the donor obtained from the given vitals device, the vitals message being deidentified to include deidentified information about the donor, and is configured to manage donor information and donation processes. A donor identity of the donor is fetched from the donor records database using the location associated with the identifier of the given vitals device and the given time as database indices to identify the donor with donor identification information. The BECS uses a decision-making framework to determine whether the donor can donate blood and transmits a message indicating whether the donor can donate blood.