BloodNet News February 2015

Welcome

Welcome to another edition of BloodNet News. With a new year upon us we thought we’d use this issue to provide some timely reminders about resetting a forgotten password, the BloodNet help menu and general housekeeping.

2015 will be yet another big year for BloodNet, with a range of new features, a new module or two and revamped reporting and real-time dashboards for laboratories.

Since our last BloodNet News, there have been a couple of changes in staff at the Blood Operations Centre. Rebecca Heland returns to manage the team after a twelve month absence in South Korea and Andrew Sharpe joins the team, escaping from a local hospital pharmacy.

Click here to download a pdf version of this newsletter (403.66 KB)

In This Issue:

  • Contact Us
  • Barcode Specifications
  • Tell us what you think
  • Real-time dashboard for laboratories
  • Spotlight on Reporting
  • Reminder – Forgotten Passwords
  • BloodNet Blood Fridges Module
  • Urgent and Life-threatening orders

Barcode specifications

Specifications for new barcode symbologies for blood and blood products were endorsed by the Jurisdictional Blood Committee in late 2014 and are now available from the NBA website at http://www.blood.gov.au/barcoding .

The specifications outline the changes to barcode symbologies (moving to two-dimensional barcodes) and timelines, as Australia moves to adopt the global standards of ISBT128 DataMatrix and GS1 DataMatrix over the coming years.

Tell us what you think…

Each year we survey BloodNet users to discover your views on BloodNet, our support services and how you think we can better deliver the system and our support services into the future.

Over the coming fortnight, you will receive a personalised email inviting you to participate in the 2015 BloodNet User Satisfaction Survey. Please take a few minutes (no more than five), to complete the survey.

Your feedback helps shape the future development of BloodNet and the way in which we support you.

Real-time dashboard for laboratories

One of the latest features we are now trialling for laboratories that have a BloodNet-LIS interface, is a real-time dashboard for individual laboratories that enables you to see the following data in real-time:

  • Your laboratory’s inventory levels, including individual units that are close to expiry
  • Your order status, showing where the Blood Service is up to in fulfilling your orders
  • And in times of activation of the National Blood Supply Contingency Plan (NBSCP), key messages and details relating to the activation.

We are currently testing this dashboard prior to it going into full production service in mid-2015.

If you are a large laboratory that currently has a full BloodNet-LIS interface (i.e. either an eBlood or a Cerner interface) and you would like to participate in the trial, please contact the Blood Operations Centre by email (support@blood.gov.au).

Housekeeping

Removing User Access to a Facility

If you are a facility administrator, and you have had staff members leave your workplace or no longer require access to your facility, remember that you should reject their facility access. You can do this via the Administration menu, using the access approvals option. Find the desired user and change their access approval status to reject, and add any appropriate comments.

Administrator Contact Details

As part of our customer service, and to resolve issues that may affect your facility, we are sometimes required to contact your facility. For Facility Administrators it would be gratefully appreciated if you could check that the Contact Person and Telephone details are up to date upon your next log in to BloodNet. You can check and update under Edit My Facility.

Spotlight on Reporting

A new report, Fresh Blood Product Management Report has been developed and is now available for you in BloodNet.

This new report is designed to be produced as a PDF for circulation to your Hospital Transfusion Committee to provide information on a range of product management areas that compare your facility to your peers at the State/Territory and National levels.

Data reported includes:

  • Units issued, transferred and discarded
  • Inventory level
  • Age at issue
  • Age at transfusion (this item is only available if you have a BloodNet – LIS interface)
  • Order fulfillment

This report will be emailed on the second day of each month to facility administrators, containing their data for the previous month. Should you wish, you can run the report at any time yourself from BloodNet.

Reminder - Forgotten Passwords

Fantastic news! We have now made changes to our security system that means you only have to change your BloodPortal account password every 2 years!

However, should you forget your password you can easily reset it yourself online by selecting the “Forgot Password” link on the BloodPortal login page.

After providing your username, email address and responding to your security questions, your new password will be emailed and texted to you within moments. Of course, if your email address or mobile number are not correct, this won’t work and you will need to call 13 000 BLOOD (13 000 25663) to have your password reset manually.

Next time you login, take a minute to check that your email address and mobile number are correct by selecting the ‘My Account’ menu in BloodPortal.

Blood Fridge Module - Coming soon!

The Blood Fridge Module is currently in testing and will assist in minimising blood wastage by improving blood cold chain security, governance and facilitating stock rotation. BloodNet and BloodPortal users can register their blood fridge(s) and allow other users of that fridge to see temperature monitoring and maintenance records.

Users can:

  • set their fridge access permissions
  • create incident notifications
  • confidently accept returns and transfers

 

In summary the Blood Fridge Module will:

  • Provide a secure outlet for facilities to share their blood fridge maintenance records and AS3864.2-2012 compliance.
  • Allow all users of the fridge to confidently dispatch, rotate and transfer blood between health providers.
  • Allow facilities who are not BloodNet users (such as affiliated hospitals) share their blood fridge records via BloodPortal.

Urgent and Life-threatening Orders

Please remember to always call your local Blood Service Inventory and Distribution (I&D) centre when placing urgent or life-threatening orders into BloodNet.

Occasionally technology is a fickle friend and an old fashioned phone call can ensure these products arrive as quickly as possible.

Your local I&D number is easily located in BloodNet under the Help tab:

Contact Us

Telephone                         Facsimile                          Email
13 000 BLOOD                   02 6151 5300                     support@blood.gov.au
(13 000 25663)

Click here to download a printable pdf version of this newsletter (403.66 KB)

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