Evaluation of actual traceability of labile blood products from patients' records

The traceability of blood products is an essential part of haemovigilance a nd transfusion safety. A pilot survey assessed the actual traceability by a nalysing transfusion information collected from medical records of a repres entative sample of 390 labile blood products transfused in a French univers ity hospital. Transfusion and distribution forms were missing in 2.3% and 6.9% respective ly. Availability and validity of transfusion information varied according t o the nature of the expected information, elements of patients' records and types of wards. The location where the transfusion was performed was false or ambiguous in 38% of cases in surgery. Crude traceability, evaluated by the feedback of validated distribution forms, was estimated at 85.2% wherea s actual traceability was estimated at 81.9% (SD 1.7%). High availability ( 98.7%) of at least one of the two sheets of the distribution form in medica l records, or in the blood bank, revealed that a significant improvement of traceability should come from a better compliance to the rules of informat ion transmission. The actual traceability differed significantly according to clinical services (worse in surgery) and was lower in case of autologous or absence of previous transfusion. An analysis of markers of good traceability should suggest efficient evolut ion of organization and information systems. This pilot study shows the rel evance and feasibility of this kind of survey which could interestingly be performed on a large national representative random sample. (C) 1998 Elsevi er, Paris.