Improving RBC inventory by optimizing preoperative ordering and eliminating crossmatch and hold

Area of Science:

• Transfusion Medicine
• Healthcare Operations Management
• Blood Banking

Background:

• Blood product constraints necessitate improved inventory management in blood banks.
• Challenges in supply chains and donor availability impact blood banks.
• Existing solutions often reduce transfusion volumes and blood bank inventory.

Purpose of the Study:

• To enhance blood bank inventory availability without altering transfusion rates.
• To implement solutions preventing unnecessary red blood cell (RBC) orders and crossmatching.

Main Methods:

• Focused on reducing duplicate orders, preoperative blood orders, and excess blood order volumes.
• Implemented changes to crossmatching workflow for perioperative needs.
• Monitored crossmatch to transfusion (CT) ratio and days of shelf life until expiration.

Main Results:

• The CT ratio of RBCs decreased significantly from 2.03 to 1.67 (p < 0.05).
• Average shelf life of issued RBCs increased from 17.5 to 20.4 days (p < 0.05).
• Inventory management efficiency improved post-intervention.

Conclusions:

• Modifying preoperative order sets and staff education positively impacts inventory.
• Changes in crossmatching workflow significantly reduce unnecessary RBC reservations.
• These improvements can be implemented without substantially affecting turnaround times.