Monitoring Blood Transfusion Policies and Implementation of Maximum Surgical Blood Ordering Schedule

Abstract

Background and Objectives: The procedure of blood ordering is a major issue in hospitals. Hence, maximum surgical blood ordering schedule is recommended to manage the blood application process properly. The aim of this study was to evaluate the demand and rate of blood consumption in different wards of a pediatric hospital. Methods: This is a cross-sectional on patients ≤18 years old who underwent major surgical procedures from 2015 to 2019. Data included type of department, number of total blood bags requested as well as cross-matched and transfused units. Furthermore, indices such as cross-matched to transfusion (Cross-matched to Transfused (C/T) ratio) in various hospital departments and months were calculated. Results: This study revealed that the utilization rate was 77.29% of blood units among a total of 97356 cases done. The emergency department consumed only 28.08% of its requests. C/T ratio for all departments of the hospital was 1.34. The most and lowest numbers of requests were for surgery 2 department and newborn intensive care unit, respectively. Furthermore, we have observed the lowest rate of C/T ratio in December. Conclusions: Our data showed that in the majority of elective pediatric surgical procedures, a large number of blood units tested for antibody screening were consumed, reducing the consumption of cord blood bags as well as the financial burden for the hospital and the patients. Furthermore, our findings revealed that based on the calculated C/T ratio, the hospital used the correct procedure for blood requests in period of 1 year. In addition, the time for preparation of blood was decreased dramatically.