Frequently Asked Questions About AABB's Emergency Prehospital Standards and Accreditation

AABB's prehospital transfusion accreditation program is intended for any facility or provider that performs prehospital emergency blood transfusions. Examples of organizations that may be accredited include air and ground ambulance providers, ambulance companies, and other emergency medical service providers that provide blood transfusions to patients before they arrive at the hospital.

AABB's standards and accreditation program is designed to optimize quality and safety and improve patient outcomes. The standards are designed to improve blood transfusion safety, patient care in the emergency setting and compliance with federal regulations. The AABB standards were developed by experts to drive high impact quality processes on mobile platforms to protect patients, blood quality during transport and the community blood supply.

AABB standards help to ensure the continuum of patient safety from the donor center/transfusion service to point of injury through proper controls and handling of blood products, regardless of location. Additionally, AABB standards mitigate the risk for blood wastage and protect the blood supply by reducing the risk of mandatory destruction of mishandled blood products.

AABB accreditation will benefit facilities and providers that furnish prehospital blood transfusions by ensuring that they have quality systems in place that meet the highest standards of safety, effectiveness and continuity of care. AABB accreditation ensures that facilities and programs meet applicable regulatory requirements; have rigorous protocols for storage, handling and the administration of blood components; properly train paramedics and other individuals who will be involved in providing prehospital blood transfusions; and have processes in place to ensure that patients receive safe, effective blood transfusions before they reach the hospital.

Additionally, AABB accreditation provides facilities with a well-recognized mark of uncompromising quality. Facilities throughout the world seek AABB accreditation to demonstrate a commitment to quality and safety while continuously improving operations. AABB's accreditation process is based on AABB's renowned quality systems approach and is designed to advance the highest standards of quality and safety while optimizing a facility's existing processes.

AABB accreditation builds on essential, expert-designed standards that minimize outcome variability and potential errors. AABB's accreditation program also provides tools to monitor a provider's performance, capture deviations and identify the risk for suboptimal outcomes before they occur.

AABB accreditation assessments are conducted by experts who are among the most qualified professionals in the field. Each team is carefully formed to fulfill regulatory requirements, provide subject matter expertise and avoid conflicts of interest. AABB assessors are trained to identify potential risks and violations, many of which could have a negative impact on patients or be costly if identified by regulatory authorities.

AABB is your partner in optimizing safety and quality. AABB-accredited facilities and providers have access to AABB's team of experts, who are on hand to answer questions anytime or offer insight in maintaining optimal safety and quality. In addition, AABB-accredited facilities and providers are considered AABB institutional members, which allows access to AABB's many products and services.

Fees for AABB accreditation are based on facility/provider size and operations. Please contact accreditation@aabb.org for more information.

AABB is aware that some EMS programs have received grants from private foundations, local and regional community stakeholder organizations, and federal, state and local governments to establish, implement, and operate prehospital blood transfusion programs. We encourage EMS providers to include start-up costs as well as the costs for accreditation in their grant proposals.