STAFF QUALIFICATION IN MOBILE BLOOD COLLECTION TEAMS

Training and official acknowledgment of the competence of each staff m ember are essential to the quality and safety of collected blood produ cts prepared and delivered by a blood transfusion center. A procedure was created to indicate in detail the methods employed to implement su ch accreditation. Based on individual training according to activity, it defines for each type of activity (secretary, physician, collector, driver) the required theoretical and practical knowledge of his/her p osition. Accreditation, consisting of assessment of the degree of comp etence attained in these areas of responsibility, was applied to the m embers of mobile blood collection teams in 1995. No major deficiency w as detected, and this certification was well accepted by the staff. In order to complete this initial accreditation, blood collection abnorm alities (inadequate blood volumes, clots or defective welding of tubin g) were assessed for each collector individually. Comparison of these abnormalities in qualified nurses and laboratory technicians with a bl ood collection diploma showed no differences. On the other hand, signi ficantly higher numbers of abnormalities were found in intermittent as compared to regular collectors and in senior as compared to new colle ctors. The applied corrective measures led to obviation of differences and improvement in performance. In 1996, in the first individual eval uation of medical selection carried out by each physician, discrepanci es of one to 20 donors (0.7-14.2%) were observed from one doctor to an other in the frequency of elimination of candidates for blood donation after the medical interview. Regular meetings with physicians resulte d in reducing these discrepancies to one to 3.1 donors (4.6-14.1%) in 1997. In conclusion, the association of an initial accreditation proce dure with an individual follow-up of work quality allowed satisfactory assessment of the training and competence of staff members. This kind of method could be extended to those working in other fields of trans fusion medicine. (C) 1998 Elsevier, Paris.