HL7 BTS_O31 Blood Product Transfusion/Disposition

The message that reports what happened to the issued blood product.
HL7 message structure BTS_O31 groups and segments from HL7 v2.5.1 Hide structure

These are the generated groups and segments for the version selected at the top of the page. The article explains the workflow, and this panel follows the chosen HL7 version.

Message Structure

SegmentNameRequiredRepeatable
MSH
 Message Header Yes No
SFT
 Software Segment No Yes
NTE
 Notes and Comments No Yes
BTS_O31.PATIENT
 Patient group No No
PID
 Patient Identification Yes No
PD1
 Patient Additional Demographic No No
NTE
 Notes and Comments No Yes
BTS_O31.PATIENT_VISIT
 Patient Visit group No No
PV1
 Patient Visit Yes No
PV2
 Patient Visit - Additional Information No No
BTS_O31.ORDER
 Order group Yes Yes
ORC
 Common Order Yes No
BTS_O31.TIMING
 Timing group No Yes
TQ1
 Timing/Quantity Yes No
TQ2
 Timing/Quantity Relationship No Yes
BPO
 Blood product order Yes No
NTE
 Notes and Comments No Yes
BTS_O31.PRODUCT_STATUS
 Product Status group No Yes
BTX
 Blood Product Transfusion/Disposition Yes No
NTE
 Notes and Comments No Yes

BTS_O31 reports transfusion or final disposition of a blood product. Where BPS_O29 says what happened during pre-transfusion dispensing, BTS says what happened at the patient-care end: transfusion started, transfusion ended, interrupted, returned, wasted, reacted, or otherwise disposed according to the local profile.

The key segment is BTX. It carries donation and component identifiers, quantity, transfusion/disposition status, message status, status timestamp, administrator, verifier, start/end times, adverse reaction type, and interruption reason.

A small BTS O31 example

MSH|^~\&|TRANSFUSION|CITYHOSP|BLOODBANK|CITYHOSP|20260717165000||BTS^O31^BTS_O31|BTS310001|P|2.5.1 PID|1||123456^^^CITYHOSP^MR||Smith^Jane^Anne^^Ms^^L||19800314|F PV1|1|I|WARD3^312^A^CITYHOSP ORC|SC|BPORD7001^EHR|BBK8801^BLOODBANK||||||20260717164500 TQ1|1||||||20260717150000 BPO|1|RBC^Red blood cells^L|IRR^Irradiated^HL70508~LR^Leukoreduced^HL70508|2|600|mL^milliliter^ISO+|20260717150000|BLOODBANK^^^CITYHOSP|||20260717143000|WARD3^312^A^CITYHOSP||ANEMIA^Symptomatic anemia^L|Y BTX|1|DON12345^BLOODBANK|RBC^Red blood cells^L|O POS^O positive^L||||1|300|mL^milliliter^ISO+|TX^Transfusion ended^HL70513|F|20260717164500|77777^Nurse^Nina|88888^Verifier^Vera|20260717150500|20260717164500||

What workflow it represents

The sender is often a transfusion documentation system, EHR, or ward workflow application. The receiver is commonly the blood bank or transfusion service that needs final disposition to close the loop on inventory and patient safety. The acknowledgment is BRT_O32.

Final disposition matters because the blood bank must know whether a product was transfused, returned, wasted, interrupted, or associated with a reaction. That status affects inventory, hemovigilance, documentation, and follow-up.

How to read the structure

MSH identifies the message. Optional patient and visit context ties the status to the right patient. The required ORDER group starts with ORC, can include timing, requires BPO, and then can repeat product-status groups with BTX.

BTX should be read at product-unit level. A patient may receive multiple units under one order, and each unit can have its own start time, end time, administrator, verifier, adverse reaction, or interruption reason.

Implementation traps

Do not report only the order as "complete" when the workflow needs unit-level disposition. If two units were issued and only one was transfused, the receiver needs that detail.

Also be clear about preliminary versus final status. IHE transfusion guidance notes that product statuses can remain preliminary until final disposition. Once final, later changes should be treated as corrections, not casual overwrites.

Reference notes

The HL7 v2+ BTS_O31 page identifies BTS and BRT as the transfusion/disposition message pair. HL7 terminology for blood product transfusion/disposition status distinguishes states such as transfusion started, interrupted, ended with reaction, and final transfused disposition.