Adherence to Hemovigilance Protocols on Storage, Preparation, and Administration among Nurses in the Open-Heart Intensive Care Unit

Abstract

Background:Adherence to blood storage, preparation, and administration standards has an important role in preventing blood-transfusion errors. In addition, the blood-transfusion rate following open-heart surgery is quite high. The aim of this study was to assess the adherence to hemovigilance standards on blood storage, preparation, and administration among nurses in the intensive care unit (ICU).Methods:One hundred nurses of the Open-Heart ICU of Rajaie Cardiovascular, Medical, and Research Center, Tehran, Iran, participated in this descriptive study. The nurses' practice was supervised from the time of the entrance of the blood unit to the ICU until the end of the transfusion process. The ICU nurses' hemovigilance practice was compared with the Iranian Ministry of Health and Medical Education's standards. The nurses' demographic and occupational characteristics were evaluated regarding the scores of the hemovigilance standards in their practice.Results:Concerning the standards of blood transfusion, 93% of the study nurses adhered to the protocols on blood-unit preservation, 84% on preparation, and 92% on transfusion. There were no statistically significant differences between the nurses' age, sex, work experience, education, last transfusion workshop participation and practice assessment, number of blood-transfusion procedures performed per month, and achieved standard scores on blood storage, preparation, and administration (all P>0.05). Conclusions:The study nurses achieved 85% of the standard scores on the preservation, preparation, and transfusion of blood units. The demographic and occupational characteristics of the ICU nurses had no effect on their hemovigilance practice. (Iranian Heart Journal 2015; 16(3): 16-21)