ISBT 128

A standard of blood product labeling and identification designed to make units collected at one facility easily managed and read by a different facility, even if the other facility is in another country. ISBT stands for “International Society of Blood Transfusion“, a Netherlands-based organization founded in 1935. Confusingly, however, the actual ISBT 128 standard comes from the International Council for Commonality in Blood Banking Automation (ICCBBA).

Since 2008, all AABB-accredited blood collection and transfusion facilities have been required to use ISBT 128 (though some organizations implemented after that deadline). As discussed in the section on labeling, following the ISBT standard means every piece of data on the blood label is in a standard position, and every donation is uniquely identified using a code that no other facility in the world can use.

For more on ISBT 128, check out ICCBA’s “What is ISBT 128?” page on their site.

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