A comparative study of blood ordering and transfusion rate for elective surgical operations at a health care center in Yazd, 2017

Introduction: Excessive and inappropriate blood ordering is one of the most important challenges in surgical operations, which leads to wastage of blood components, increased blood supply costs and increased workload of blood banks. The aim of this study was to determine the ratio of blood ordering to transfusion in surgical wards of a Hospital in the city of Yazd. Methods: In this cross sectional study, 385 cases that hospitalized in surgical wards undergoing elective surgery during the first half of 2017 were studied. All of the patient’s data were recorded in the checklist by using the information in their files, and analyzed by using SPSS18 software. Results: The mean age of the cases was 39.55 ± 19.81 with a range of 1 to 93 years. 156 (40.5%) were male and 229 (59.5%) were female. The most frequent surgeries were gyneco/obstetrical (32%), orthopedic (24%) and general (23%) operations. The mean of the blood ordering to transfusion ratio was 1.9±0.8. In this study, for 45% of patients, blood was requested; however, for only 3.9%, blood units were transfused, indicating a high ratio of blood ordering to transfusion. For mastectomy, cholecystectomy or thyroidectomy surgeries, 2-3 blood units were ordered while frequency of transfusion for these operations was zero. The highest average blood request was for the neurosurgical, gyneco/obstetrical and orthopedic operations, while the mean transfusion rate for these operations was zero, 0.064 and 0.154, respectively. Conclusions: Considering the high ratio of blood ordering to transfusion in this study, a fundamental change in the pattern of blood ordering for different types of surgeries is necessary to avoid excessive request. However, before surgery, the surgical team should be reassured that adequate blood in appropriate time will be available for the patient.

Keywords:

Blood transfusion , Blood ordering , Surgery