Transportation of Blood Components

Maintaining proper storage temperature during transportation is essential. The allowable temperature limit for refrigerated blood components is up to 10 ºC during transportation but the preferable range is 1-6 ºC.

Chain of Traceability

Blood components are usually transported for one of four reasons:

1. To supply a hospital with blood products
2. To redistribute blood components that are nearing expiry to large hospitals for transfusion (so they will not outdate)
3. To accompany a patient enroute to another facility
4. To transport components within a hospital to the patient care area

Records that maintain the chain of traceability must be kept so that it is possible to trace all blood components from their source to final disposition.

Requirements

1. Validated shipping containers are critical to this process. They are necessary to ensure blood components remain within environmental specifications at all times. The shipping container must be labelled with a minimum of the following information:
   - Contents (blood components)
   - Originating location
   - Destination location
   - Any cautions or descriptions for containers holding dry ice.
2. Some hospitals and regions have chosen to use temperature monitoring devices in one or more shipping containers in each shipment of blood and blood products as documented evidence that environmental specifications have been met.
3. Visual inspection of each blood component to be shipped should be performed and documented. Any components not meeting criteria must not be shipped.
4. An issue voucher or transfer record must be included with all transported blood components. This record must indicate the following information:
   - the name of the facility receiving the blood components
   - a unique tracking number for the shipment
   - the type of blood components in the shipment
   - the donation number of each blood component
   - the total number of items shipped
   - the date and time of shipping
   - special instructions that pertain to the shipment or unit(s) within the shipment
   - the signature of the person responsible for packing the shipment
5. Platelet components must be continuously agitated and the platelet components should not be used if agitation has not occurred for more than 24 hours. This means that transportation of these components cannot take longer than 24 hours from the time the product leaves the blood supplier. As well, the platelet components should be shipped between two gel packs that have been maintained at 20 - 24o C.
6. Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) must specify the training requirements for handling and transportation of components. All training must be documented and regular assessments of compliance to the SOP must be performed periodically.
7. Transportation between facilities should not exceed 24 hours.