Impact of the novel coronavirus disease and lockdown on the packed red blood cells inventory management: An experience from a tertiary care oncology center in Western India

ABSTRACT Introduction The novel coronavirus disease has disrupted blood transfusion services worldwide. Despite blood transfusion services taking several precautionary measures to minimize the risks of COVID-19 during blood donations, donors became anxious regarding the risk of the COVID-19 infection during the donation and the blood transfusion services was facing the inevitable hazard of blood shortage. Methods The study was conducted at a tertiary care oncology hospital-based blood transfusion services and included analysis of blood donations, packed red blood cell units requirements, and packed red blood cell inventory in the pre lockdown and lockdown phase. New COVID-19 standard operating procedures with enhanced safety guidelines and donor confidence-building measures were implemented at the blood transfusion services. Results The total number of average monthly blood donations decreased in lockdown but the decrease was not statistically significant (238.5 vs. 197.8, P = 0.391). The requisitions for the packed red blood cell cross-matches (722.5 vs. 329.0, P = 0.001) and the packed red blood cell utilization (176.5 vs. 103.3, P = 0.028) for the hospital patients also decreased significantly due to the lockdown. In the lockdown phase, an expressive number of packed red blood cell units were outdated due to the unprecedented fall in the number of patients. In the post-lockdown phase, the packed red blood cell inventory was optimized with decreased outdating via a comprehensive approach. A special emphasis was given to the in-house donations. A second partial lockdown also decreased the blood donations. Conclusion Confidence-building in blood donors and the resolution of logistical issues were crucial for the efficient packed red blood cell inventory management in the lockdown. Implementation of COVID-19 preventive measures helped in the blood donor and blood transfusion services staff safety.

The Experience of Applying an Australian Red Blood Cell Safety Stock Calculation to Korean Hospitals / 대한수혈학회지

BACKGROUND: The management of red blood cell inventory in hospital's blood bank is crucial. The Australian Red Cross Blood Service developed a RBC safety stock calculation method (abbreviated as the ‘Australian formula’). In this study, we applied this method to four Korean hospitals to calculate the safe RBC stock level. METHODS: The hospitals included in this study were three tertiary teaching hospitals and one teaching hospital. The number of hospital beds in these hospitals were 1093, 1330, 1400, and 854, respectively. The data were collected from the Korea Blood Inventory Monitoring System of Centers for Disease Control & Prevention. The target/minimal/maximal RBC inventory levels and inventory days (inventory level/average daily usage) by ABO blood types were calculated using the daily red cell transfusion, wastage, and supply data between May and October 2016. RESULTS: The enrolled hospitals showed different levels for the target/minimal/maximal RBC inventory according to each blood group. The average of RBC inventory days in the four hospitals was 4.2 days. For each blood group, RBC inventory days were 3.2~4.4 days for O blood group type, 3.5~4.7 days for A blood group, 3.9~4.5 days for B blood group, and 3.9~5.5 days for AB blood group. CONCLUSION: Because the optimal RBC inventory levels are different depending on the hospital characteristics and the ABO blood group, it is necessary to set the RBC inventory levels for each hospital distinctly. The data obtained in this study will help manage blood product inventory in various hospital blood banks.