The impact of organisational change on transfusion practices in perioperative care: an analysis of blood product use following the merger of three London cardiac surgery units to form the Barts Heart Centre.

OBJECTIVES: In 2015, three London cardiac centres, with different transfusion infrastructure support, merged to form the Barts Heart Centre. We describe the impact on transfusion rate, blood usage and interoperator variation. DESIGN: Data was collected on all adult patients undergoing cardiac surgery during 2014 as well as 2016, using the National Institute Cardiovascular Outcomes Research (NICOR) data set. MEASUREMENTS AND MAIN RESULTS: Over the two time periods, a total of 3,647 cardiac procedures were performed (1,930 in 2014 and 1,717 in 2016). There were no significant differences in type of surgery or patient comorbidity between the two epochs of time. Overall, red blood cell transfusion at 24 hours and until hospital discharge reduced significantly in 2016 (odds ratio 0.77; 95% confidence interval 0.68-0.89; p=0.0002). Interoperator variability (adjusted for comorbidities) reduced after merger from standard deviation 0.394 (standard error (SE) 0.096) to 0.269 (SE 0.082), p=0.001. CONCLUSION: Clinical and organisational factors can improve transfusion service.