Use of “smartphone” technology for managing workload in transfusion-transmissible infection (nucleic acid testing) laboratory for platelet concentrate inventory management resulting in timely issue of platelets: Experience from a tertiary care center

Sir, Our institute is a large tertiary care center in N o r t h I n d i a w i t h m u l t i s p e c i a l t i e s s u c h a s hemato‐oncology (pediatric and adult), bone marrow transplant, advanced trauma care, cardiothoracic vascular surgery, obstetrics and gynecology, and solid organ transplant units which require platelet concentrates (PCs) for their patients. Our department collects 60,000 whole blood units annually and prepares about 32,000 random donor platelets (RDPs) in addition to 2000 single donor apheresis platelets (SDAPs) to cater demand of large number of patients admitted in different specialties. All the collected whole blood units are subjected to transfusion‐transmissible infection screening using semiautomated individual donation (ID) nucleic acid testing (NAT) in addition to the third‐generation ELISA. However, the SDAPs are prepared as and when required for the patients and respective donors are screened accordingly by performing rapid tests in duplicate using kits from two different lots.