Challenges and opportunities to prevent transfusion errors: a Qualitative Evaluation for Safer Transfusion (QUEST)

Area of Science:

• Transfusion Medicine
• Patient Safety
• Healthcare Quality Improvement

Background:

• Wrong blood transfusions cause significant patient harm and mortality.
• Existing pretransfusion checking procedures have not eliminated this critical safety issue.

Purpose of the Study:

• To explore healthcare professionals' perspectives on the pretransfusion checking process.
• To identify systemic concerns and potential solutions for improving blood administration safety.

Main Methods:

• Qualitative study involving 12 focus groups and 7 individual interviews with 72 healthcare professionals across 5 countries.
• The constant comparison method was used for data analysis to identify common themes.

Main Results:

• Key themes identified: pretransfusion checking, training, policy, error, and monitoring.
• Staff prioritize checking bag labels against paperwork over bedside patient verification.
• Training effectiveness is perceived as minimal, policy access is difficult, and workload/distractions contribute to errors.

Conclusions:

• Multiple factors impede the effectiveness of individual interventions in pretransfusion checking.
• Further research is needed to develop comprehensive strategies for safer blood administration.