Blood product wastage reduction by utilising low‐cost, low‐impact multimodal physician‐to‐physician communication initiatives

Abstract

Objectives:To assess a multimodal physician-to-physician communication initiative that is low in cost and impact to daily workflow to reduce blood product wastage.Background: Blood product stewardship is an important issue in all hospital systems. Previous studies have proposed low-cost interventions to reduce blood product wastage, but few have evaluated improvements in communication between the blood bank and providers. We undertook a prospective quality improvement project focusing on improving communication to reduce blood product wastage. Methods:We conducted a prospective quality improvement project over the first quarter of 2017, identifying patients with issued but unused blood products. Each service overseeing the care of patients identified on the unit status report was contacted through two possible methods: (i) phone or (ii) proprietary Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 compliant digital messaging application. Collected variables included reserved blood product type and participant time spent. Outcomes included the rate of blood product release and changes in wastage compared with historical data tracked by the blood bank. Results:Eight hundred and forty products were reserved during the study period, of which 436 (52%) were released. Average participant times ranged from 2 ± 1 min to 15 ± 4 min with no significant differences in time spent between participants (P = 0·194). Compared with the average product wastage 10 months prior to project initiation, there were significant reductions in the average wastage for platelets (5·3 ± 2·5 units vs 2·5 ± 1·5 units, P = 0·05), RBCs (6·1 ± 3·7 units vs 0 ± 0 units, P = 0·01) and overall wastage (58·3 ± 14·9 units vs 40 ± 15·7 units, P = 0·05). Conclusion:Efforts focusing on improving provider-to-provider communication can reduce blood product wastage.

Demography and blood donation trends in Saudi Arabia: A nationwide retrospective, cross-sectional study

“…To reduce blood wastage and enhance stock management, a number of low-cost policies can be implemented. These include improved communication between blood banks and providers ( Levin et al, 2019 , Mishra et al, 2021 ), staff continual education ( Burk et al, 2021 ), improved transport Kron et al, 2021 ), and updating transfusion protocols ( Bawazir and Dakkam, 2020 , Gholami et al, 2021 ) which all have been proven to have a cumulative effect in reducing blood wastage.…”

Patient Blood Management and Its Role in Supporting Blood Supply

“… 72 A recent study by Levin et al showed that even a low-cost initiative such as physician-to-physician communication could significantly reduce blood product wastage. 73 In a dwindling donor supply setting, there is a greater need to promote PBM as a standard of care.…”

“…Journal of Blood Medicine 2023:14 606 communication could significantly reduce blood product wastage. 73 In a dwindling donor supply setting, there is a greater need to promote PBM as a standard of care.…”

Reducing blood product wastage through the inter‐hospital redistribution of near‐outdate inventory

“…[9][10][11][12][13] This modification of ordering practice is accomplished through educational initiatives that encourage adherence to local transfusion thresholds and promote the appropriate correction of preoperative anemia. [14][15][16][17][18] However, even appropriately placed blood orders can contribute to unnecessary blood component and product wastage.…”