A study to formulate maximum surgical blood order schedule at a Tertiary Care Referral Teaching Institute in Andhra Pradesh

Background and Objectives: Blood transfusion is the mainstay of treatment for several serious illnesses, surgical, and trauma patients. The aim of this study is to develop maximum surgical blood order schedule (MSBOS) for surgeries in our institute to formulate certain guidelines to prevent the over-ordering of blood and promote reasonable ordering of blood. Patients and Methods: All the patients undergoing surgeries in General Surgery, Surgical Gastroenterology, surgical oncology, Cardiovascular and Thoracic Surgery, Neurosurgery, Urology, and Orthopedics Departments requesting blood were included in this study. Cross-match-to-transfusion (CT) ratios, transfusion probability (TP), and transfusion index (TI) were calculated for individual specialties and surgeries. Based on these parameters, MSBOS was formulated. Results: During the study period, a total of 2724 patients posted for elective surgical procedures necessitating blood among various surgical departments were included in the study. A total of 5812 units of packed red blood cells were requested and cross-matched for the study population. Among these, 1831 units were transfused with a blood utilization percentage of 31.50% (6%–60%). The overall CT ratio of our study was 4.21. The overall TP was 31.69% and the overall TI was 0.56. Conclusion: Implementation of MSBOS is helpful in achieving the goal of rational usage of blood. Based on the results, we grouped the surgical procedures which need type and screen, type and hold, and type and cross-match.