Patent attributes
A donated blood collection kit includes an easy-to-open closed container. Stored within the container are items necessary or useful for collecting donated blood, such as an antiseptic scrub, an antiseptic swab, test tubes, a blood collection container, a gauze pad and a sheet of pre-printed adhesive barcode labels. Each kit is assigned a unique identification when the kit is manufactured. The identification may eventually be used as the unique donor identification for a unit of donated blood that is collected using the items in the kit. The container is pre-labeled with the unique identification, such as by a barcode or an RF-ID tag. The test tubes and, if included, the blood collection container are pre-labeled with the same unique donor identification. The adhesive barcode labels in the container are pre-printed with the same unique donor identification and may be affixed to items that are not provided in the kit but, nonetheless, should be associated with the unit of blood that may be collected using the kit. Information about lot numbers and expiration dates for the items in the kit may be encoded in the kit's unique identification and/or stored in a database in association with the kit's identification.
