Blood wastage management in a regional blood transfusion centre

The aim of this study was to determine the rate of blood component wastage before and after interventions at Yazd Blood Transfusion Center.

The growing need for blood components along with blood safety issues and rising costs constantly pressurise blood centres to improve their efficiency. Reducing the quantity of discarded blood at all stages of the supply chain can decrease the total costs.

Data on discarded blood components were extracted from the database of Yazd Blood Transfusion Center. Multiple interventions, including implementation of wastage management standard operating procedures and reduction of red blood cells (RBCs) inventory level, were implemented. Discard rates of blood components in the 3 years after intervention (2013-2015) were compared with the discard rates in the 3 years before interventions.

The total wastage rate of blood components decreased by almost 60%. Discard rates of RBCs, platelets and plasma decreased from 9·7%, 18·5% and 5·4% to 2·9%, 10·5% and 2·3%, (P < 0·001) after intervention, respectively. The most prevalent reason for discarding units was expiration of RBCs and platelets. Plasma units were discarded mostly due to technical faults during processing. The cost saving of reduction in blood wastage was estimated to be 1,500,000 dollars.

Interventions had a significant impact on the reduction of blood wastage with respect to both cost and blood supply saving.