Blood bag labels contain important information about the content of the blood bag that can be communicated to doctors and hospital staff prior to administration or use. The healthcare staff at facilities of blood collection and processing centers and transfusion services must comply with the ISBT 128 Standard, Labeling of Blood Components. Not only does this require blood bag labels to have a specific data structure on the blood bag label, but it also requires electronically readable symbols. This ensures that there are national guidelines that all healthcare facilities can comply with, and it prevents blood bag mislabeling, which is the leading cause of transfusion related morbidity and mortality. The most common types of blood bag labels include blood type labels, expiration date labels, cryogenic labels, compliance labels and permanent labels.
