Blood requisition and transfusion practices for elective surgical procedures at Tikur Anbessa specialized hospital, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, 2017

Abstract

Background: For elective surgeries preoperative over ordering of blood is very common practice and leads to holding up of the blood bank reserve, aging of the blood unit, and wastage of blood bank resources. This can be decreased by simple means of changing the blood cross-match and ordering schedule depending upon the type of surgery performed. Objectives: To assess blood requisition and transfusion practices in elective surgical procedures. Methods: Hospital-based cross-sectional study was conducted from February 1, 2017, to March 31, 2017 G.C at Tikur Anbessa specialized Hospital. Using a convenient sampling technique and structured checklist, data was collected from elective surgical patients. Blood utilization was calculated using a cross-match to transfusion ratio (C/T), transfusion probability (%T) and transfusion index (TI), and the maximum surgical blood-ordering schedule (MSBOS) is formulated by Mead's criterion for common surgical procedures. Results: Among 525 units of blood cross-matched blood, 107 units were transfused. Among all 242 elective surgical patients who had cross-matched blood, 55 (22.7%) patients were transfused with 107(20.4%) units of the prepared blood giving cross-match to transfusion ratio of 4.9, transfusion probability of 22.7% and transfusion index of 0.44. Conclusion: The amount of blood requested and cross-matched for patients undergoing elective surgery is much greater than the amount actually used. Ordering pattern needs to be revised and over-ordering of blood should be minimized.