A survey on the availability and convenience of emergency blood transfusion in mainland China / 中国输血杂志

ABSTRACT

【Objective】 To investigate the availability and convenience of emergency blood transfusion in mainland China, and develop strategies for improvement. 【Methods】 The electronic questionnaire was self-made by the research team, and pushed to physicians and technicians related to emergency blood use and supply nationwide through the WeChat group of professional organizations such as the Chinese Medical Doctor Association′s Emergency Resuscitation and Disaster Medicine Professional Committee. The data was automatically aggregated by the internet survey platform named questionnaire star, and analyzed by statistics software SPSS 21.0. 【Results】 1) General information A total of 3 151 questionnaires were collected, of which 85% (2 678 / 3 151), from 31 provinces, municipalities or autonomous regions in mainland China were valid, and 39%(1 044/2 678), 22%(577/2 678), 39%(1 057/2 678) were from the east, middle and west region, respectively; 78%(2 099/2 678) were from tertiary hospitals, and 22%(579/2 678) secondary hospitals and below; 60%(1 607/2 678), 16%(425/2 678), and 24%(646/2 678) were from Emergency Department(EM), Intensive Care Department (ICU) and other departments respectively. The respondents with senior position titles took up 34%(906/2 678) while those with intermediate and junior position titles took up 30% (798/2 678) and 36%(974/2 678) respectively. 2) Availability: 63%(1 680/2 678) of the respondents experienced untimely and insufficient blood supply at least once during June 2017 to May 2020, of which 75% (1 256/1 680) occurred in the past year. In the past half year, 51% (381/1 057) of respondents in the western region and 34% (713/2 099) in tertiary hospitals experienced more emergency blood shortages (P<0.05). The most prone to clinical blood supply shortage were red blood cells and whole blood, platelets and other plasma components, accounting for 43% (1151/2678), 42% (1125/2678) and 15% (402/2678), respectively. 48% (1 274/2 678) respondents believed that the insufficient blood supply for emergency use " has caused a significant adverse effect on the quality of rescue", and 40% (1 081/2 678) believed that it was " a potential medical safety threat" .3)Convenience The waiting time for emergency blood transfusionwithin 0.5 h, 1 h and 2 h accounted for 28% (741/2 678), 71%(1 903/2 678) and 90% (2 547/2 678), respectively. The waiting time of emergency blood transfusion within 0.5 h accounted for 50% (286 / 577) in central region, which was significantly higher than that in eastern or western region (P < 0.05). 67% (889/2 678) of respondents experienced blood inventory depletion, of which 30%(792/2 678) had to wait for more than 8 hours for resuming blood supply. 80% (751/1 057) of the respondents in the western region experienced inventory depletion, significantly higher than that in the central region (P<0.05). 4)The influencing factors were mainly insufficient blood donation, growth of clinical demand in blood, blood waste due to expiration and clinical irrational use, accounted for 56% (1 485/2 678), 23% (619/2 678), 7% (183/2 678) and 6% (167/2 678) respectively. 60% (633/1 057) of the respondents in the western region considered insufficient blood donation as the influencing factors, statistically higher than that in the eastern and central regions (P<0.05).5)Suggestions for improvement included more voluntary blood donation, development of blood substitutes, standardization of clinical blood use and extension of blood storage shelf life, accounted for 49% (1 326/2 678), 24% (645/2 678), 19% (499/2 678), and 8% (208/2 678), respectively. 53% (561/1 057) of the respondents in the western region suggested strengthening voluntary blood donation (P<0.05), while 26% (268/1 044), 26% (152/577), 25% (553/2099) of respondents in the eastern, central region and tertiary hospitals respectively suggested strengthening the research and development of blood substitutes (P<0.05). 56% (504/906) of respondents with senior professional titles recommended strengthening voluntary blood donation, while 26% (453/1 772) and 0.9% (164/1 772) of those with intermediate and junior technical titles recommended research and development of blood substitutes and improvement of blood storage technology, respectively(P<0.05). 【Conclusion】 The whole blood reserve can not fully meet clinical emergency needs at present stage, especially in the western region and some tertiary hospitals,, showing the necessity to adopt comprehensive measures to further improve the availability and convenience of emergency blood transfusion, including strengthening voluntary blood donation, developing blood substitutes, prompting rational clinical blood use and improving blood storage technology.