Knowledge, attitude and practice of haemovigilance among healthcare professionals in a Nigerian Tertiary Hospital

Abstract

Background The institution of effective haemovigilance protocols in health facility is essential to the attainment of universal blood transfusion safety. Objective The objective of the article was to determine the knowledge, attitude and practice of haemovigilance by healthcare professionals in a Nigerian Hospital. Patients and methods This was a cross-sectional study; an anonymous structured questionnaire was used. In all, 270 consenting hospital staff were randomly selected from among medical doctors, nurses and medical laboratory scientists. Statistical analysis of the data was done using SPSS, version 20.0. Results Only 28.4 and 4.1% of all respondents were aware that graft versus host disease and cryoprecipitate were types of blood transfusion reaction and blood component, respectively. Fever was the most identified blood transfusion reaction among all respondents (84.6%) while a good number were not aware of the existence of local blood transfusion service (71.0%) and hospital blood transfusion committee (53.1%); 37.1 and 56.1% study participants were not aware that blood transfusion reactions should be investigated and results communicated to all stakeholders, respectively, while 20.8 and 28.8% did not know that there is a checklist for blood transfusion safety and reactions, respectively. Conclusion The knowledge and practice of some key elements of haemovigilance is suboptimal among our health professionals. This will need to be improved through intensive in-service training and continuous medical education.