Blood Bank Management Information System A Case Study of the Kenya National Blood Transfusion Services

Abstract

As the cost of creation, processing and distribution of information continues to decrease, there has been increased penetration of technology based applications in the various sectors of the economy and the health sector has not been left behind. Computer based applications in the Kenyan health sector range from simple records management to the provision of electronic health and mobile based health services commonly referred to as e-health and m-health respectively. This paper focuses on the relevance of web based technologies in managing blood bank information with an aim to improve efficiency in this crucial process which has proven challenging in the past since the inception of Kenya National Blood Transfusion Services over a decade ago. Taking the republic of Kenya as a case study the research findings indicated that the blood bank sector lacked coordination since each blood bank kept independent records, which were not coordinated with other banks. The paper discusses development and deployment of a system that achieves coordination of activities between the blood banks, health centers and donors having them interact with a central database.