The use of simulated learning to promote safe blood transfusion practice

The transfusion of blood and blood products is a complex, multi-professional task which is liable to errors at any point in the journey from donor to recipient. The serious hazards of transfusion (SHOT) scheme has documented reports which consistently demonstrate that the administration of the incorrect blood component is a major cause of morbidity and mortality in the United Kingdom. Training programmes which focus on different stages of safe effective blood transfusion are currently available but none involve practice in the workplace setting. This paper shares the design, implementation and subsequent evaluation of a simulated ward exercise, which was developed in partnership with the Scottish National Blood Transfusion Service (SNBTS), NHS Tayside and the University of Dundee Medical School to reinforce learning in a workplace context. The exercise was evaluated from a number of different perspectives. The exercise demonstrated that it is an effective method of reinforcing safe transfusion practice in a non-threatening realistic workplace environment. Costs in terms of time, finance and staff numbers may however preclude large scale implementation in practice.