ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND: It is important for a hospital to have a well organized blood transfusion service. METHODS: Our hospital adopted the maximum surgical blood order schedule (MSBOS) and type and screen (T & S) systems in April 1999 and opened a division of transfusion therapy, thus introducing an integrated control system for blood transfusion. RESULTS: In the year (2002), the crossmatch-to-transfusion (C/T) ratio has dropped from 3.94 to 2.01, and the volume of blood transported outside the central operating room and that of waste blood have decreased. CONCLUSIONS: The new systems are instrumental in saving preoperatively prepared blood and exercising its qualitative control. From now on, our task is to improve measures to cope with cases of transfusion in excess of MSBOS and reevaluate MSBOS on a regular basis.
