ATLANTA, Feb. 18 (UPI) -- A new national surveillance system will monitor adverse events in patients who receive blood transfusions, U.S. health officials said Thursday.
By having a coordinated national network, health officials at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta can summarize national data to understand better how to prevent adverse transfusion events such as reactions to blood products, medical errors, and process problems.
The system, called the Hemovigilance Module, is part of CDC's National Healthcare Safety Network -- an Internet-based surveillance system that allows healthcare-associated infection data to be tracked and analyzed to allow CDC and healthcare facilities to maximize prevention efforts.
"This is an important advance in monitoring the safety of transfusions for patients nationwide," Dr. Matthew J. Kuehnert, director of the CDC's Office of Blood, Organ, and Other Tissue Safety, said in a statement.
"This system will enable healthcare facilities to better recognize blood transfusion-related adverse events so that they can improve the care of patients who have transfusions."
