Objectives: To determine the existing infrastructure for monitoring blood t
ransfusion practices in New South Wales hospitals.
Design: A questionnaire survey conducted in August 1998.
Participants: All healthcare facilities known to have used blood products f
rom the Australian Red Cross Blood Service - New South Wales in the 12 mont
hs before the survey.
Main outcome measures: Existence of a transfusion committee and policies an
d procedures to ensure appropriate use and issue of blood products; monitor
ing expiry rates of red blood cells, platelets and fresh frozen plasma; usi
ng a maximum blood ordering schedule (MBOS); and measuring the crossmatch t
o transfusion ratio (CT ratio).
Results: 224 hospitals were surveyed and 144 responses were received (64%).
Twenty-five hospitals (17%) had a transfusion committee; 60 (42%) monitore
d expiry rates of red cells, and 39 (27%) and 42 (29%), respectively, monit
ored these rates for platelets and fresh frozen plasma. Thirty-three hospit
als (23%) used an MBOS and 43 (30%) measured the CT ratio. However, over 70
% of the larger hospitals (>200 beds) had all these aspects of transfusion
infrastructure in place, and 35% had transfusion committees.
Conclusions: Our survey showed that, overall, there was a lack of transfusi
on infrastructure in NSW hospitals. However, most of the hospitals with mor
e than 200 beds had infrastructure in place to monitor transfusion practice
s, but only a minority had established transfusion committees.