The Demand of Whole Blood in Casualty Management at a Tertiary Level Hospital in Bangladesh

Abstract

Efficient blood transfusion facility in the casualty wards is essential to minimize the morbidity and mortality of the injured patients. Proper knowledge of blood transfusion demand in a facility can help forecast future demands and facilitate the planning of existing resources allocation for best injury care. This cross-sectional study was conducted at the causality wards of Dhaka Medical College Hospital from July 2018 to December 2018. During this period, patients who attended the casualty wards and needed whole blood transfusion were selected as the study population. Relevant information regarding the required blood units, blood group, and blood collection source were recorded and analyzed. During our study period, 1619 units of whole blood were required by 896 patients. Most of the study population were from the age group of 31-40 years. Male group was the predominant at a 3.9:1 male-female ratio. Majority of the patients (55.13%) required only one unit of blood, and 28.57% of the patients required two units. O+ve blood group was the most demanded (34.65%) followed by B+ve, A+ve, AB+ve, O-ve, B-ve and A-ve (31.87%, 23.72%, 7.6%, 1.42%, 0.49% and 0.25%, respectively). The patients' relatives donated around 85% of blood, and the rest were from voluntary donors. The average daily and weekly requirement of whole blood for the causality departments of Dhaka Medical College Hospital was around 9 and 62 units respectively. Evidence-based expert guideline for the use of whole blood in the casualty management and social awareness for blood donation may save thousands of valuable lives. Faridpur Med. Coll. J. 2021;16(1):8-11