News & Events | New Web-Based Resource Improves the Quality of Patient Care in “Real Time”

Puget Sound Blood Center’s new server-based technology praised by hospitals for delivering fast, accurate patient information

AUGUST 4, 2003, SEATTLE — In today’s operating room, life, death and the quality of medical care hinges on the accuracy and availability of critical patient information. As the world’s largest centralized transfusion service and provider of blood to 70 hospitals in Western Washington, Puget Sound Blood Center announced a new Web-based technology, Hospital Links, which streamlines the delivery of critical patient transfusion information to medical professionals. The new application, developed by the Blood Center, was made available to area medical facilities in mid-2002.

Health Link Benefits
As the largest of only three centralized transfusion services in the country, Puget Sound Blood Center maintains complete blood test results and transfusion records for patients receiving treatment in the 15 major medical centers in King County. A free service, Hospital Links enables these transfusion service hospitals to access comprehensive patient information in seconds, rather than days – utilizing the Web’s ability to provide information “on demand.” Prior to Hospital Links, physicians were required to use phones, faxes and other time-consuming methods to get information. Hospitals outside of the county use the service to check the status of blood components ordered for delivery.

Traditionally, medical professionals have been able to access patient transfusion histories or information only through use of phones, couriers or fax. Hospital Links was developed by the Blood Center to replace these cumbersome and time-consuming methods. It promises secure, immediate access to patient transfusion reports, blood component orders, test results and other critical information. Faster access to medical records also means that patients no longer need to wait as long for physicians to obtain their transfusion records, meaning better service to hospitals and improving the quality of medical care.

"Though we have only been using Hospital Links for a short period of time, we're already seeing great possibilities for the technology,” said Jeff Wagner, transfusion safety officer with Virginia Mason Hospital in Seattle. “Vital patient information that once took several days to receive now only takes a matter of minutes. Because the technology has exceeded our expectations, we hope to use it in other areas of our facility."

Each month, Puget Sound Blood Center provides blood and laboratory services for more than 20,000 transfusions, requiring hospitals to contact the Blood Center by phone or fax, for relevant test results or transfusion information. Hospital Links, developed with multiple layers of security to protect patient records, has filled this void for many local institutions, including Seattle Cancer Care Alliance, a consortium of Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, University of Washington Medical Center and Children’s Hospital.

“Hospital Links has been an invaluable resource as we design a transfusion profile for our patients,” said Laura Ulz, R.N. and transfusion services coordinator at Seattle Cancer Care Alliance. “If we need to know about a critically ill patient’s reaction to recommended platelet therapy, Hospital Links dramatically reduces the time needed to ascertain the attributes and quantity of transfusions given. Overall, Hospital Links has increased the efficiency of our daily workload, contributed to our quality assurance program and helped us develop safe transfusion therapy strategies for our patients.”

Originally developed to improve information delivery to Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, the service is currently being deployed by five medical facilities in Washington state: Virginia Mason, Stephens Hospital, Overlake Medical Center, St. Peter’s Hospital in Olympia and the Seattle Cancer Care Alliance. The Blood Center expects other hospitals and medical facilities to embrace the Web-based technology or existing customers to find new uses for it this year.

“As the primary provider of transfusion and transplantation services in the Puget Sound region, the Blood Center is in a unique position to understand and respond to the needs of the 70 hospitals and medical facilities that depend upon us,” said Richard Counts, M.D., president of the Puget Sound Blood Center. “We’re pleased that Hospital Links has been so well received by some of the leading hospitals in the Puget Sound area and look forward to having the technology adopted by the area’s other top medical facilities.”

System Requirements/Technology
Hospital Links is a secure, server-based technology that runs on an IBM iSeries server, located at the Blood Center headquarters in Seattle. The database containing patient records is DB/2, and uses Verisign’s digital certificates to encrypt the information using Secure Socket Layer. The only technology requirements for customers is a PC equipped with either Microsoft Internet Explorer 5.0 or above or Netscape Navigator 6.0 or above. Hospital Links is also Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) compliant.

About The Puget Sound Blood Center
Internationally recognized for groundbreaking research in transfusion and transplantation medicine, the nonprofit Puget Sound Blood Center is the resource for patients in Western Washington who need blood, tissue and specialized laboratory services. Founded in 1944, the Blood Center has a long and unique tradition of blending community volunteerism, medical science and research to improve patients’ lives. The Blood Center, which serves patients in more than 70 hospitals and clinics in 14 counties with blood services, provides tissue and transplantation support to 185 hospitals across the Northwest.