Blood Donors Can Answer Their Health History Questions Online

Also operates well on a touch screen tablet pc ...see below...BD

Blood donation just got easier with advent of the Internet Quality Donor System(TM) (iQDS) by Talisman Ltd., of Vienna, Virginia. The US Food & Drug Administration recently issued 510(k) clearance to market the system. As Talisman President Paul D. Cumming, PhD points out: "Now blood centers that use the Quality Donor System(TM) (QDS) can have their donors respond to health history questions in the privacy and convenience of their home or office instead of being asked questions at the blood drive." While donors must complete the questionnaire on the day of donation, they can now do it at a time and place that best fits their schedule. The prospective donor prints a bar-coded receipt from their computer that summarizes their health history interview and presents this to center staff when they arrive at the blood collection location. Center staff ask a few qualifying questions to ensure authorship of the of the form and, if acceptable, scan the bar-coded receipt entering the interview in the center's QDS system, review the interview and ask any necessary follow up questions. It is anticipated iQDS will save over 10 minutes of donor time at the donation center. Not only is this more convenient for donors and blood centers, but it is expected to increase the appeal for sponsorship of blood drives, since donors will be absent from their work or classrooms for less time.

The preferred client configuration is a touch-screen computer such as the Sahara (see below). This same client machine can also operate in a standalone mode, by running the QDS software directly on the tablet computer.