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Hematag

01The question

It's back from theatre. Does it go back on the shelf?

Today the answer depends on a clock. With Hematag it depends on proof: where the unit went, for how long, and at what temperature.

Talk to our teamSee how it works

In development — this site describes the product as it will be, not an off-the-shelf offer. We are talking with transfusion services to shape it.

Unit #A-4471In range
  1. 14:02IssuedBlood bank
  2. 14:09ReceivedOR 3
  3. 14:54ReturnedBlood bank
6 °C limitout of fridge · 52 min
Minimum
3.1 °C
Maximum
5.8 °C
Decision
Return
  1. 02

    The real problem

    You decide with a clock, not with proof.

    The bank knows when the unit left and when it came back. Not where it waited in between, or how warm it got: straight to theatre, or 40 minutes on a cart in a corridor.

    A transport cooler left on a cart in an empty corridor outside the operating rooms.
  2. 03

    What has been tried

    Every rule tried so far errs one way or the other.

    The 30-minute rule, then 60, then a single check at return have all been tried. None of them shows what happened between issue and return.

    60 min
    in Canadian practice, beyond which a returned unit is discarded without its temperature ever being measured
    Canadian transfusion practice, extended from 30 min
    +13 %
    additional waste when a single spot-check is taken at return
    DeSimone, Transfusion 2018
    15.2 %
    of red cell units would have been accepted by the 30-minute rule despite being outside the allowed temperature
    DeSimone, Transfusion 2018
    The problem in detail →
  3. 04

    What you get

    Every unit comes back with its record.

    At the operating room door, a phone reads the tag as the unit changes hands.

    • The trail

      Who had it, where and when, at every hand-off. Waiting time becomes a measured number.

    • The curve

      Continuous temperature between every hand-off, from a sensor calibrated in our accredited laboratory.

    • The decision

      Return to inventory, discard or quarantine, by your site's rules, recorded with its reasons.

    How it works →
  4. 05

    What might hold you back

    The questions we get, answered plainly.

    Another device for my staff to manage?
    Staff scan the unit with a phone at each hand-off. The technologist reads the record at their station.
    Does it fit the regulation?
    It builds on what the Blood Regulations already allow: showing transport conditions with a data logger (s. 76 and s. 101).
    Will it cut our wastage?
    We have no measured figure yet. We will publish the numbers from our first pilot site, not a projection.
    Does it replace our fridge monitoring?
    No. Your fridges keep their monitoring. Hematag covers the unit once it leaves them.
    All our answers →
  5. 06

    The next step

    Let's talk about your at-risk units

    The economics only work if you instrument the units that genuinely leave the fridge — not every bag in the bank. A first conversation is enough to establish which units matter for you.

    Get in touch