“In blood banking, as in fencing, the slightest deviation can have dire consequences. That’s why we use OTIS in both our blood bank and laboratory to help track even the slightest nonconforming event. We then examine these incidents so we can better determine the root causes and trends.”
—Pathologist Arell Schurgin Shapiro, MD, FACP, Brandeis University’s first All-American in fencing, is medical director of the clinical laboratory of a $1B regional healthcare network in Newport Beach, Calif., that collaborated on OTIS®-Blood Bank and OTIS®-Laboratory and has been using them both for years.
“OTIS is the only software I’ve used that is pretty much 100% wonderful! It’s intuitive, tracks every step of the investigation by date and author, provides ongoing status of the investigation and enables users to create reports in multiple configurations.
Dr. Arell Shapiro, Hoag Hospital
Shown here in 1974, Dr. Shapiro was the top women’s fencer in Brandeis U. history.
“OTIS makes reporting, investigating, documenting and learning from NCEs easier and more painless for the user. I’ve seen a total transition in the approach to reporting NCEs with resulting improvement in transfusion safety and laboratory testing quality.*
“OTIS reinforces a team approach that is totally transparent and objective. We embrace our mistakes here and learn from them—every single day.
“To err is certainly human, but AABB, CAP, FDA and Joint Commission all expect a facility to have an effective means of identifying blood product deviations and other occurrences, as well as documentation to show you have analyzed the problem and initiated a corrective action plan. OTIS is the first technological solution that effectively provides a means to do that. Recently added functionality makes the system 100% paperless and further expands its ability to help us optimize quality.”
“OTIS is particularly adept at helping to foster an atmosphere of transparency where the focus is on solutions, not blame, and collaboration is promoted. All our department heads and QA analysts use OTIS to review outstanding incidents with their teams, help identify underlying causes and propose solutions.
“At this point, I simply don’t know what we would do without OTIS.”
*The importance of blood safety is widely recognized; lab safety not so much. A patient’s health journey often starts with diagnosis and an estimated 70% of a patient’s electronic health record consists of laboratory data. The National Patient Safety Foundation estimates that “up to one in every 10 diagnoses is wrong, delayed or missed completely; collectively, diagnostic errors may account for 40,000-80,000 deaths per year.” Systems like OTIS—which help laboratories precision-target areas that need improvement—can ultimately be a real lifesaver.
