Radio frequency identification application has significant process-orientated and technological implications. It is feasible and economically justifiable to incorporate RFID into blood centre processes.

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Background-There is growing interest in radio frequency identification (RFID) technology application for tracking blood products to achieve higher productivity and safety in the transfusion medicine supply chain. We have conducted a limited study to assess the temperature and biological effects of 13.56 MHz RF radiation on red blood cells (RBC) and whole blood-derived platelets (WBDP) under extreme exposure conditions.

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This paper presents the results of experimentation on the development of an efficient branch-and-bound algorithm for the solution of zero-one linear mixed integer programming problems. An implicit enumeration is employed using bounds that are obtained from the fractional variables in the associated linear programming problem. The principal mathematical result used in obtaining these bounds is the piecewise linear convexity of the criterion function with respect to changes of a single variable in the interval [0, 1]. A comparison with the computational experience obtained with several other algorithms on a number of problems is included.

Automated identification and data capture systems, such as bar code and radio frequency identification (RFID), can be a key enabler for reducing errors and enhancing safety throughout the blood product supply chain. This project was funded by a Small Business Technology Transfer grant from the US National Institutes for Health. It represents the first comprehensive investigation to introduce RFID technology for automatic identification, tracking and monitoring of blood products across the blood banking spectrum. The System covers both blood center and hospital domains. The focus of this paper is to share lessons learned from our pilot, in a hospital domain, as performed at the University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics (UIHC), in USA. UIHC is a Level I Trauma Center with over 760 beds; it administers more than 34,000 blood products per year. In 2005, UIHC developed a system using bar‐code technology named INFORMM Patient Record (IPR) to prevent patient identification errors in blood transfusion. After implementing IPR, UIHC realized substantial improvements in prevention and detection of transfusion errors. The objective of the pilot was to assess RFID technology in transfusion services from four perspectives: safety, operational efficiency, performance reliability, and organizational impact. A significant outcome of this pilot was a comparison between IPR and the RFID System in terms of safety standards and performance. For this purpose, the two systems were run side‐by‐side using IPR as the benchmark, thus allowing extrapolation of the proven benefits of IPR to the RFID System. The pilot was performed from May 1 until May 28, 2012. The scope was limited to the “Blood and Marrow Transplant Unit” (14‐beds) and to a remote storage location in the “Emergency Department”. During the pilot, the RFID and IPR systems collected over 35 samples and processed a total of 144 units. Data was collected from various reports and exception extracts from both systems, and from weekly user survey responses of UIHC personnel involved in the pilot. The RFID System successfully performed all the trace, tracking and safety checks as specified in the processes selected for this pilot. Both the RFID System and the IPR system executed every transaction back‐to‐back, equally detecting and preventing process errors. Both systems achieved an 83% reduction in process errors by replacing the manual based procedures for tracking and identification purposes. Error reduction also resulted in savings in labor costs. With the RFID System, the visibility and traceability of specimens and products were greatly improved. Our ROI analysis predicts a productivity gain of 10% with a Payback period of 2·5 years and a net present value of benefits equal to $485,000 in a 5 year horizon. The pilot was executed as planned and the assessment of the RFID System was successfully accomplished. Throughout the pilot, the System provided robust functionality equivalent to IPR. The pilot showed that the RFID System can provide high standards of safety for pr...

Linear-control analysis, Dynamic macroeconomic systems, Business-cycle dynamics, Stabilization policies,

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