Objectives: To evaluate the return of blood components across different hospital areas, reasons for the same and suggest preventive strategies which might reduce out of controlled temperature storage (CTS) blood logistics and wastage.
Material and methods: A retrospective audit was carried out in the department of Transfusion Medicine from January 2019 to December 2022. Data related to returned blood components was compiled using departmental records and blood centre software entries.
Results: A total of 218 instances of returned components were noted and the total number of components returned were 442 (0.4% of all issued components) (38.4% (170) packed red blood cells, 16.2% (72) single donor cryoprecipitate concentrate, 19.6% (87) platelet concentrate and 25.5% (113) fresh frozen plasma). Components were returned back within 30 mins in only 27% (59/218) of all instances . Wards followed by high dependency units/intensive care units were noted to have the highest number of instances (86 (39.4%) and 69 (31.6%) respectively) with emergency department having the least,comprising 19 instances (8.7%). 77.9% (170/218) instances were observed for routine transfusion requests and 44.5% (97/218) of all instances could have been prevented by an appropriate clinical status assessment of the patient.
Conclusion: Stakeholders such as clinicians, transfusion laboratory professional and nursing staff must take consolidated efforts to eliminate wastage of blood components. Instances of returned blood components can be targeted by the hospital quality team as a quality improvement project.
Keywords: Blood wastage; Cold chain; Controlled Temperature Storage; Inventory management; Logistics; Transfusion.
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