What does BPL mean in BRITISH MEDICINE

A Blood Products Laboratory (BPL) is a lab that specializes in testing and analyzing blood used for transfusions and other medical applications.

BPLs focus on uniformly collecting, storing, testing and distributing blood components like red cells, plasma and platelets. The process of collecting the blood begins with a donor donating the required sample of blood which then gets tested by medical personnel before it can be accepted or refused based on the results of their tests.

BPLs are highly regulated by the U.S. Food & Drug Administration (FDA). The FDA sets standards for quality control throughout the process of collection, storage, testing, distribution and ultimately use of these blood components for transfusion or other medical application.

BPLs typically perform a variety of tests to ensure safety before releasing a sample for transfusion or any other medical application such as hematology tests to assess red cell counts; serological tests to identify infectious diseases; genetic tests to assess specific characteristics in donated blood; immunohaematological tests to determine compatibility between donor-recipient pairs; assays to assess concentrations of electrolytes; clotting time tests to measure clotting capability; as well as screening methods like Elisa or PCR that test for any viruses present in the sample being tested.

If an issue arises during testing then the donated sample is rejected outright without further examination until it has been deemed safe according to regulations set out by FDA guidelines.