[Standardization of bar code information on blood unit labels for automation of blood unit exchange between blood donor and transfusion services and blood banks].

Exchange of blood units between transfusion services and blood depots, using EDP systems requires standardisation of unit identification and bar-codes. The ISBT Working Party on Data Processing defined recommendations for blood-unit identification by Codabar. Our group (German Society of Transfusion Medicine and Immunohematology, Section Data Processing and Standardization) extended and adapted these standards to the German blood bank settings. This paper describes the basic definitions and standards. A complete outline will be published in the next future.