Clinical Evaluation of Blood Requisition and Utilization Practices at a Teaching Hospital, Mirpur, Azad Jammu and Kashmir, Pakistan

Abstract

Abstract

Background: A blood transfusion is a routine medical procedure in which donated blood is provided to recipient after necessary steps such as compatibility testing and donor screening for blood-borne viruses, bacteria and parasites. The balance between demand and supply is increasing significantly. The completion of the blood request form is equally important for the successful blood transfusion, haemovigilance and traceability of adverse events. The judicious use of blood products can be calculated by compatibility testing and transfusion (C:T) ratio, transfusion probability and transfusion index (TI).

Objective: To assess the clinical evaluation of blood requisition and utilisation practices at Divisional Headquarters Teaching Hospital, Mirpur, Azad Jammu and Kashmir.

Methodology:  This was a prospective study carried out in a Department of Pathology and Transfusion Medicine from June to November 2023. A total of 3,213 patients were entertained during the study period. The data were entered in SPSS version 20.0 (IBM SPSS Statistics for Windows, IBM Corp., Armonk, NY, USA) and analysed for completeness, legibility, and blood component utilization through calculation of key indicators including C:T ratio, transfusion probability (%T), and TI.

Results: Out of the 3,213 blood request forms reviewed, 1% of the forms were filled. The overall C:T ratio, transfusion probability, and transfusion index were 1.5, 64.8%, and 0.6, respectively.

Conclusion: This study highlights significant gaps in the completion of BRF. There is a variation seen in blood transfusion practices among different hospital departments. A similar study is suggested at a larger scale and with an increased sample size to assess the real scenario of C:T ratio, transfusion probability (TP) and transfusion index (TI). The hospital transfusion committee should take a step forward to encounter this challenge.

Key words: blood transfusion, haemovigilance, transfusion index, transfusion probability