ABSTRACT
Background: Blood requisitions received in blood bank for elective and emergency procedures from surgery, trauma, Obstetrics and Gynaecology Department are often associated with excessive demand for cross matching of blood which is often more than the required blood and blood components. In this study, our goal was to use the blood stocks more efficiently and reduction in the wastage due to over dating and to prevent injudicious pre-operative cross-matching and utilization of blood.Methods: This was a prospective study conducted in the Department of Blood Transfusion and Immunohematology of Sher-i-Kashmir Institute of Medical Sciences (SKIMS), Soura, Srinagar over a period of one year with effect from September 2017 to August 2018. Source was requisition forms and blood bank records of patients who underwent elective procedures in the hospital. For the purpose of analysis, departments were categorized into surgical and allied branches i.e Cardiovascular Surgery (CVTS), Neurosurgery, General Surgery and Obstetrics and Gynaecology. Department wise utilization of blood Components cross matching to Transfusion ratio (C/T), transfusion probability (T%) and Transfusion Index (TI) were calculated. Data was entered and analyzed using Microsoft excel window 2010. The obtained data was evaluated and presented in the tabular and diagrammatic forms.Results: A total of 3940 requests for cross matching of blood and its components were received for 3072 patients. Out of these, 2048 units were transfused. The total C/T Ratio, Transfusion Probability (T%) and Transfusion Index (TI) was 1.92, 42.5% and 0.6 respectively.Conclusions: To reduce the injudicious usage of blood, blood transfusion services need to adopt blood conserving policies. Efforts should be made to adopt more conservative transfusion thresholds, periodic feedback to improve blood ordering, conduct regular auditing, handling, distribution and utilization practices of this scarce resource.