Hospital-based Blood Transfusion Service Research Articles

Status of hospital-based blood transfusion services in low-income and middle-income countries: a cross-sectional international survey

ObjectivesBlood transfusion is life-saving for patients experiencing acute blood loss and severe anaemia. In low-income and middle-income countries (LMICs), low blood donation rates and unavailability of whole blood and blood...

Plateletpheresis donation through donor awareness, motivation, and recruitment drives: A unique concept and experience from a tertiary care oncology centre in India.

The majority of blood donor motivational and awareness activities are directed toward whole blood donation and not much emphasis is given to the plateletpheresis. The study was designed to analyze the effectiveness of the unique concept of platelet drives (PD) to increase voluntary plateletpheresis donations. The study was a retrospective study conducted at a tertiary care oncology hospital-based blood transfusion services (BTS). A total of 13 PDs were conducted from January 2016 to December 2020. A total of 559 potential donors came for the donor registration and 125 donors got deferred on medical history. A total of 434 donors gave their samples for the testing of plateletpheresis. The median age of potential male and female donors was 32 and 30 years respectively. A total of 58 males and two females have donated single donor platelets (14.3% vs. 7.4%, P=0.319). The median age of male and female donors was 36 and 42 years, respectively. In male donors, 48 had donated once, seven donated twice, two donated thrice and one donor donated four times. Out of two female donors, one donor donated twice and the other donor donated four times. The female donors were more committed to repeat donations (P=0.004). Since the start of PDs, the number of voluntary donations has increased considerably over the years. PDs have helped in increasing the number of voluntary plateletpheresis donors. All the BTS must have the standard operating procedures in place for these kinds of awareness and motivational drives.

Impact of the novel coronavirus disease and lockdown on the packed red blood cells inventory management: An experience from a tertiary care oncology center in Western India.

IntroductionThe novel coronavirus disease has disrupted blood transfusion services worldwide. Despite blood transfusion services taking several precautionary measures to minimize the risks of COVID-19 during blood donations, donors became anxious regarding the risk of the COVID-19 infection during the donation and the blood transfusion services was facing the inevitable hazard of blood shortage.MethodsThe study was conducted at a tertiary care oncology hospital-based blood transfusion services and included analysis of blood donations, packed red blood cell units requirements, and packed red blood cell inventory in the pre lockdown and lockdown phase. New COVID-19 standard operating procedures with enhanced safety guidelines and donor confidence-building measures were implemented at the blood transfusion services.ResultsThe total number of average monthly blood donations decreased in lockdown but the decrease was not statistically significant (238.5 vs. 197.8, P = 0.391). The requisitions for the packed red blood cell cross-matches (722.5 vs. 329.0, P = 0.001) and the packed red blood cell utilization (176.5 vs. 103.3, P = 0.028) for the hospital patients also decreased significantly due to the lockdown. In the lockdown phase, an expressive number of packed red blood cell units were outdated due to the unprecedented fall in the number of patients. In the post-lockdown phase, the packed red blood cell inventory was optimized with decreased outdating via a comprehensive approach. A special emphasis was given to the in-house donations. A second partial lockdown also decreased the blood donations.ConclusionConfidence-building in blood donors and the resolution of logistical issues were crucial for the efficient packed red blood cell inventory management in the lockdown. Implementation of COVID-19 preventive measures helped in the blood donor and blood transfusion services staff safety.

An insight into the encountered challenges and performances of a hospital-based blood transfusion service in Eastern India in the light of COVID-19 pandemic

Background: Every pandemic elaborates its own challenges that should be managed meticulously through proper initiative and planning, following existing guidelines and through population education. We encountered various challenges in our blood center which significantly affected the blood inventory and blood supply. Here, we share our experiences of managing blood donations, blood inventory, staff adequacy, and blood wastages in the light of COVID-19 pandemic. Methods: The retrospective study was performed from January 1, 2020, to June 30, 2020, that included major activities in a blood center. The initial 3 and later 3 months were considered as the pre-COVID and COVID periods, respectively. Data related to various affected parameters were retrieved, analyzed, and compared with the pre-COVID period. Results: The drop in blood donation, blood component preparation, and blood issue in the COVID-period was observed to be 51.2%, 49.1%, and 49.8%, respectively. Mean total blood donation time and turnaround time of blood issue in the COVID period were found to be statistically significant (P

Updated characteristics of blood services, donors and blood products in 11 French-speaking African countries.

The Francophone Africa Transfusion Research Network conducted the first large and comprehensive surveys on the status of blood safety in francophone African countries in 2009 and 2012. Since then, there has been substantial investment in blood safety but little is known about progress made in the region. This multicentre cross-sectional study describes characteristics of blood services, donors and blood products and compares results with previous data. A web-based questionnaire collected data of 2016 from 38 blood facilities in 11 French-speaking countries. Data were analysed according to type of blood services and compared to similar studies conducted in 2009 and 2012. The study included data on 572 933 donations from 366 844 donors. Compared to 2012, there was an increase in the median proportion of voluntary nonremunerated blood donation (+22%) (P = 0·004), and a reduction from 2·1 to 0·9 (P = 0·01), from 10·3 to 6·7 (P = 0·00), from 3·2 to 1·3 (P = 0·006) and from 1 to 0·4 (P = 0·03) in median seroprevalences of HIV, HBV, HCV and syphilis, respectively. The median proportion of blood orders fulfilled decreased (-18·2%) (P = 0·001). The number of technical staff per 1000 donations ranged from 1 to 54 with hospital-based blood transfusion services having 12-fold more staff than National and Regional services. Several indicators have improved in Francophone Africa Blood services during the last 5 years and national and regional services likely have better indicators than hospital-based services. These findings may support the need for ongoing blood safety initiatives.

Is there a need to phase out replacement blood donors by voluntary blood donors in hospital based blood transfusion services?

Background: Providing safe blood for transfusion is a responsibility of every blood bank. Screening for transfusion-transmissible infections (TTI) is one of the ways to ensure safety of blood and its products. Prevalence of TTI varies in different countries. It is low in developed countries whereas it is higher in developing countries.Aims And Objectives: This study was carried out to access percentage of blood collected from the first-time voluntary blood donors (VBD) and family/replacement donors (RD) and to access safety of RD by comparing seroprevalence of TTI among voluntary and RD.Materials And Methods: Over 1 year, donors were studied for the type of donation (voluntary or replacement) made at our blood bank. All donors were screened for human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), hepatitis B virus (HBV), hepatitis C virus (HCV), syphilis, and malaria. Comparison of the prevalence of TTI among voluntary and RD was done by entering data into Microsoft Excel 2007 software and using Chi-square tests.Results: Out of total 850 first-time donors, voluntary donors were 109 (12.82%) and RD were 741 (87.18%). Overall seroprevalence of HIV, HBV, HCV, syphilis, and malaria was 0, 23 (2.70%), 12 (1.41%), 7 (0.82%), and 0, respectively. Prevalence of TTI among voluntary donors was very low. All donors were seronegative HIV and malaria. Prevalence of HBV, HCV, and syphilis was higher in RD.Conclusion: Data highlight that RD contributed major source of blood supply in hospital-based blood transfusion services and the prevalence of TTI was higher among them in comparison to first-time voluntary donors. Thus, efforts should be made to increase the number of VBD.

Monitoring errors in a blood bank immunohematology laboratory: Implementing strategies for safe blood transfusion

Background: Errors occurring at patient bedside during specimen collection are the most common causes of adverse outcomes. We planned this prospective study to estimate the incidence and nature of transfusion errors, identify the source, site of occurrence, and assess the underlying problems in the system with the aim to prevent the potentially fatal human error. Materials and Methods: The study was performed over a period of 5 years at a hospital based blood transfusion service where all errors and discrepancies both in the recipient and donor samples were reported into an 'incident and error reporting register' and then analyzed. Results: While a total of 72,381 patient samples were received for pretransfusion testing, 43,762 samples were from blood donors for ABO and Rh grouping. A total of 79782 blood components were issued to patients during the study. Out of 229 errors in the blood transfusion chain, 164 (0.22% of total requisitions and 0.21% of total component issued) were reported in patient pretransfusion samples, and 65 errors (0.15%) were reported in donor samples. Majority of the errors were clerical in nature and related to human errors. Of the 164 errors in pretransfusion testing samples, 107 (65.2) were observed in night shift. The overall error frequency per 1000 requisitions was 2.26. Conclusion: Near miss event reporting can prevent potential transfusion associated mortality and morbidity caused by simple human ignorance. A good error reporting not only helps in accurate collection and analysis of data but also makes recommendations that improve transfusion safety.

Transfusion support to Dengue patients in a hospital based blood transfusion service in north India

We evaluated transfusion requirements in a retrospective study of 245 patients with various categories of Dengue infection. The majority (155/245) of our patients were of the Dengue fever (DF) category. There was no correlation between clinical bleed and platelet count as 81 non-bleeding patients were having counts <20 × 10 3/μL. Coagulopathy was observed in 37% of the patients with Dengue hemorrhagic fever or Dengue shock syndrome. A rapid response to platelet and fresh frozen plasma (FFP) transfusion was observed in all cases. However, inappropriate transfusion was a major concern as transfusion of 21.5% platelet concentrates was considered inappropriate.

Quality systems in automated plateletpheresis in hospital‐based blood transfusion service in north India

The issues of providing quality blood products and maintaining donor safety are primary aims of blood transfusion services. A comprehensive quality system should be in place to fulfill these aims, which can be attained through strict adherence to the established standard operating procedures (SOPs). The Drugs and Cosmetics Act of India, which controls the licensing of blood transfusion services, does not provide clear guidelines regarding plateletpheresis procedure. We, therefore, established our own SOP and operational flow chart for plateletpheresis that can be easily followed by other centers in India. A total of 100 plateletpheresis procedures performed using two cell separators (CS3000 Baxter Healthcare, Round Lake, IL; MCS3p, Haemonetics Corporation, Braintree, MA) were evaluated following our established SOP. The mean platelet yield in CS3000 was 2.9 +/- 0.84 x 10(11) and in MCS3p it was 2.88 +/- 0.75 x 10(11)per unit. However, only 4-7% of SDPs showed WBC levels <5 x 10(6) due to lack of appropriate methods to quantitate residual WBC counts. Six of 100 donors complained of hypocalcemic symptoms. The operational flow chart designed in this study was found to be simple and easy to adapt by blood transfusion services in this country.

Feasibility of Hospital-Based Blood Banking: A Tanzanian Case Study

The demand for blood transfusion is high in sub-Saharan Africa because of the high prevalence of anaemia and pregnancy related complications, but the practice is estimated to account for 10% of HIV infections in some regions. The main response to this problem by the international donor community is to establish vertically implemented blood transfusion services producing suitable (safe) blood at a cost of US$25-40 per unit. However, the economic sustainability of such interventions is questionable and it is argued here that hospital-based blood transfusion services operating at a basic adequate level are sufficient for low-income African countries. The results of a project aimed at improving such services in Tanzania are presented. The main findings are: (1) the cost per suitable blood unit produced was US$12.4; (2) at an HIV test sensitivity of 93.5% during the study period, discounted financial benefits of the interventions exceeded costs by a factor of between 17.2 and 37.1; (3) the cost per undiscounted year of life saved by use of these interventions was US$2.7-2.8; and (4) safe blood transfusion practices can be assured at an annual cost of US$0.07 per capita. Recommendations are made to ensure safe blood transfusion practices at hospital-based blood banks in Tanzania.

Automatic data processing for organisational aid to blood donor centers in emergency hospitals

A test model of a computer-off-line system at the Community Hospital Blood Bank in Herford collecting approximately 3.000 units of blood annually is described. The computer system presented, now in operation for more than one year, has proven its value for general blood bank administration by its time-saving effect and the optimalized documentation of donor- and blood-related data. The computer system described is particularly recommended for smaller, hospital-based blood transfusion services. Its introduction is even justified in institutions preparing less than 5.000 units of blood per year. Prerequisite for an economical operation of the computer system is the participation of the hospital management in other computer activities, i.e. book-keeping, accounting etc.