A Survey of Blood Request Versus Blood Utilization at a University Hospital in Iran

Abstract

<br/><strong><span style="font-size: xx-small;">Background: </span></strong><span style="font-family: Arial,Arial; font-size: xx-small;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Arial; font-size: xx-small;">Reservation of blood leads to blood wastage if the blood is not transfused. Therefore, in some centers </span></span><span style="font-family: Arial,Arial; font-size: xx-small;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Arial; font-size: xx-small;">only blood type and screen are evaluated. In this study, the efficacy of a blood crossmatch-to-transfusion ratio was </span></span><span style="font-family: Arial,Arial; font-size: xx-small;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Arial; font-size: xx-small;">measured and then compared with the standard levels. </span></span><br/><span style="font-size: xx-small;"><br/><strong>Methods: </strong></span><span style="font-family: Arial,Arial; font-size: xx-small;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Arial; font-size: xx-small;">This prospective study was conducted during one year in a university hospital. During this period, 398 </span></span><span style="font-family: Arial,Arial; font-size: xx-small;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Arial; font-size: xx-small;">patients for whom blood had been requested were studied. In these patients, at the first surgical type, the laboratory </span></span><span style="font-family: Arial,Arial; font-size: xx-small;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Arial; font-size: xx-small;">tests (hematocrit, hemoglobin, platelet count, and prothrombin time) and the number of preoperative crossmatched and </span></span><span style="font-family: Arial,Arial; font-size: xx-small;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Arial; font-size: xx-small;">intraoperative transfused blood units were recorded. Then the crossmatch-to-transfusion ratio, transfusion probability, </span></span><span style="font-family: Arial,Arial; font-size: xx-small;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Arial; font-size: xx-small;">transfusion index, and correlation between related factors, and the transfusion ratio were evaluated. </span></span><br/><span style="font-size: xx-small;"><br/><strong>Results: </strong></span><span style="font-family: Arial,Arial; font-size: xx-small;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Arial; font-size: xx-small;">In this cross-sectional study, blood was requested for 398 patients. According to available blood unit deficiency, from 961 blood unit requisitions, only 456 units were crossmatched and 123 units were transfused. The crossmatch-to-</span></span><span style="font-family: Arial,Arial; font-size: xx-small;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Arial; font-size: xx-small;">transfusion ratio, transfusion probability, and transfusion index were 3.71 (7.81 if all requisitions were crossmatched), 16.83%, and 0.31, respectively. The most unfavorable indexes were observed in patients who had ear, nose, and throat </span></span><span style="font-family: Arial,Arial; font-size: xx-small;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Arial; font-size: xx-small;">surgeries (0 transfused from 19 crossmatched blood units) and obstetric and gynecologic surgery (crossmatch-to-transfusion ratio was 18.6). The best indexes were related to thoracic surgery and neurosurgery (crossmatch-to-transfusion ratio was 1.53 and 1.54, respectively). There were no significant correlations between hemoglobin, hematocrit, platelet </span></span><span style="font-family: Arial,Arial; font-size: xx-small;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Arial; font-size: xx-small;">count, and prothrombin time with the number of transfused blood units (</span></span><em><span style="font-family: Arial,Arial; font-size: xx-small;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Arial; font-size: xx-small;">P </span></span></em><span style="font-family: Arial,Arial; font-size: xx-small;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Arial; font-size: xx-small;">= 0.2, 0.14, 0.26, and 0.06, respectively). </span></span><br/><span style="font-size: xx-small;"><br/><strong>Conclusion: </strong></span><span style="font-family: Arial,Arial; font-size: xx-small;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Arial; font-size: xx-small;">The data for the crossmatch-to-transfusion ratio, transfusion probability, and transfusion index were suboptimal </span></span><span style="font-family: Arial,Arial; font-size: xx-small;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Arial; font-size: xx-small;">at this center, especially for ear, nose, and throat and obstetric and gynecologic surgeries. Further multidimensional studies and determination of a new model for blood requests and to decrease blood wastage are needed. </span></span>