Neoteric Smart Refrigerator Improves Patient Safety in Sunnybrook's Operating Rooms and Blood Bank

Neoteric Technology Ltd and Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre today announce that the hospital is the first institution in North America to implement Neoteric’s BloodTrack® OnDemand blood dispensing system. The system could be described as a high-tech vending machine that immediately provides users with the blood product they need, eliminating the need to wait for blood services to fill the order. The deployment is part of a pilot project funded by the Ontario Ministry of Health across three hospitals – Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre, Toronto General Hospital and Toronto Western Hospital.

“Our blood management system has been proven to reduce blood consumption while increasing patient safety in hospitals through out the United Kingdom. We now look forward to providing the same benefits to Canadian patients,” comments Geof Auchinleck, President, Neoteric Technology. “Sunnybrook was the first to implement Neoteric’s award winning LacTrack® SafeLx mothers’ milk management system and we are pleased that they will achieve another first with the implementation of BloodTrack OnDemand.”

BloodTrack OnDemand is a new way of providing blood to patients without involving the blood bank. The process allows unallocated (non-crossmatched) blood to be stored in automated “smart” refrigerators in patient care areas such as the Operating Room. When a blood unit is required, it can be electronically assigned by the refrigerator and labelled for a specific patient, this ultimately saves a great deal of time and potentially patient lives.

"At Sunnybrook, we're always keen to be among the first to adopt new initiatives that will improve care for our patients,” comments Dr. Jeannie Callum, Director of Transfusion Medicine and Tissue Bank, Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre. “We have high expectations of BloodTrack OnDemand. Some of the results we anticipate by using the system are a reduction in blood utilization, less time waiting to obtain a unit of blood in the OR and an increase in productivity for issuing blood in the blood bank. Early indications are that we’ll see some great improvements.”

A report of results will be published this summer.