Gulf Coast Regional Blood Center Adopts Reliable Semi-Rugged Computing Solutions from Panasonic to Improve Mobile Collection Operations

(HealthNewsDigest.com) - Houston, TX – Gulf Coast Regional Blood Center of Houston, Texas, is the primary supplier of blood components to more than 220 hospitals and healthcare facilities in a 25-county Texas Gulf Coast region.

The Blood Center deploys 32 mobile collection units—14 coaches and 18 vans. During the collection process, the staff verifies donor eligibility by checking information from prior visits, performing a mini physical exam and having the donors complete a health history questionnaire. They also record detailed information about the collection itself.

The Blood Center had originally equipped their staff with commercial-grade laptops for inputting and downloading information. However, they quickly learned that those laptops were not suitable for the regular wear and tear of a mobile environment—the commercial-grade laptops were constantly breaking. However, the cost of repair was not the main concern. The cost of downtime—not having the necessary equipment on hand—was substantial.

It was clear that The Blood Center needed a durable mobile computing solution they could rely on. In April 2004, they replaced their commercial-grade laptops with semi-rugged Panasonic Toughbook® 72 notebooks, with built-in wireless and touchscreens. About a year later, a four-alarm building fire destroyed most of their mobile equipment. In February 2005, they again chose Toughbook laptops, this time opting for the semi-rugged Toughbook 73 notebook. Today, the Gulf Coast Regional Blood Center has over 100 Toughbook 73 notebooks in service.

The staff often works long hours and the units get heavy use. “The last thing on a user’s mind is to handle the Toughbooks delicately after a 12-hour shift,” said Andrew Nguyen, DI System Administrator for The Blood Center. “But since I’ve been here, I have not experienced any major breakage with the Toughbooks.”

“The benefits have been tremendous,” exclaimed Gulf Coast Regional Blood Center’s Management Information Systems Director, Bart Block. “We reduced documentation errors to less than one quarter of what they were, which has a huge positive impact downstream. Our donors are also pleased with the self-administered screening process and shortened visit times. We provide much more information to our donors and staff than we ever could before.”

Because of their success with the Toughbook 73 notebooks, The Blood Center is now planning to equip their mobile units with Toughbook Wireless Displays—a rugged and cost-effective solution for gathering and transmitting donor information out in the field without having to free up a laptop. Additionally, they are evaluating the Toughbook 74 notebooks for their next deployment.

“Toughbooks are the toughest units on the market,” concluded Andrew Nguyen.

Challenge: Deploy a durable and reliable computer system to input and download information quickly, accurately and securely during blood collections in mobile environments.

Solution: Over 100 Toughbook 73 laptops were deployed among The Blood Center’s 32 mobile units.

Result: The Toughbook 73 notebooks perform dependably in spite of heavy mobile use, and have enabled The Blood Center to reduce documentation errors by 75%. Donors are pleased with the self-administered screening process and shortened visit times. As a result of this success, Toughbook 74 notebooks are being considered for the next deployment.

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