audit of blood ordering pactices in Hospital Queen Elizabeth, Kota Kinabalu, Sabah, Malaysia

ABSTRACT

To audit the blood ordering practices in an attempt to alleviate shortage of blood, improve percentage utilization and cross match transfusion ratio. Design: The blood bank reviewed all requests for blood to ensure a] adherence to hospital guidelines for transfusion, b] adherence to type and screen or group, screen and hold [TS/GSH] ordering schedule for defined elective surgeries and c] automatic cancellation of orders if not utilized within 24 hours. Setting: The blood bank and clinical departments of Queen Elizabeth Hospital, Kota Kinabalu, Sabah, Malaysia. Subjects: During the span of four months in 1996, 9581 orders for request of blood and blood products were subjected to audit. No distinction was made between different products and each unit request was counted as one. Main outcome measures: Availability of blood, percentage utilization and cross match transfusion ratio. The number of requests decreased by 38.5%; compliance by the blood bank increased by 12.7%, while percentage utilization by end users improved by 24.0%. The cross match/transfusion ratio [CT ratio] came down to 2.01. Conclusions: Without prejudice to the need for increased collection of blood, we would like to suggest that systems used in this study are helpful tools in busy blood banks for overcoming relative shortage, attaining better utilization and CT ratio