Causes of blood product discard in the blood bank of tertiary health center over 5 years: A retrospective study

Abstract

Background: Blood and its constituents are necessary for human survival, and no major surgical procedure can be completed without using blood. Wastage of blood and blood products should ideally never occur. This study aimed to examine the load of blood discarded in our blood bank, the causes of the discard, and to reduce blood discard to a minimum by using innovative procedures and approaches. Materials and Methods: A 5-year retrospective research was conducted at the Department of Blood Bank, D. Y. Patil Hospital and Research Centre, Navi Mumbai, from 2018 to 2022. Results: Throughout our research period of 5 years, the average number of blood units collected was 4655/year. With an average of 2.5 blood products made from every whole blood collected, there were, on average, 117167/year blood products made. There was an overall decreasing trend of blood products discarded from 11% in 2018 to around 5% in 2022. The main reasons for blood discard were expired blood products (average 4.9%/year), transfusion-transmitted diseases (TTDs) (average 2%/year), and less quantity (average 0.5%/year). Conclusion: Expiry/outdated units were determined to be our study’s most prevalent reason for disposal. Over the years, the discard percentage has been reduced by half to 5% in 2022. Better blood bag collection, storage, and usage management might eliminate this discard. The coronavirus disease pandemic has been a pivot point, in which the discard rate gradually decreased despite less blood collection. TTDs were another major cause of blood discard in our blood bank (2%). By arranging revision training courses and educating our blood bank workers, we can reduce TTD as a cause of blood wastage.

Keywords

• blood bank
• blood discard
• blood products
• covid pandemic