A retrospective audit of red cell serology requisition forms received at a reference Testing Center for work-up

Abstract

Background and Objectives: Audits identify areas of problems in immunohematology workup and transfusion practice which can be corrected by the education of medical staff, formulation of guidelines, and algorithms. An audit is a series of simple, direct questions, which when answered and reviewed, tell us whether the laboratory is performing its procedures, activities, and policies correctly. The aim of this study was to analyze immunohematology request forms sent from red cell serology laboratories to our reference testing center (RTC) to ascertain their completeness. Materials and Methods: This was a retrospective, observational study conducted in the department of transfusion medicine at a tertiary-level health-care center from November 2019 to June 2021. We ascertained whether the immunohematology workup forms details were complete, absent, or incomplete. Results: The study was conducted over a period of 20 months, with 264 forms being audited. In this overall total number, almost one-third of 1894 (34.16%) of the immunohematology workup requisition form details were complete and 716 (12.91%) of these entries were incomplete. However, almost half of the overall number of 2934 (52.92%) of the requisitions were absent. Conclusion: From our study, we concluded that an audit of all the RTC requisitions at the point of receiving can be an important tool to detect requisition errors and results of RTC workup. We received a sample for RTC advanced immunohematological testing from all over India. There is a need for the organization of CME and training of staff to increase compliance regarding sending appropriate RTC advanced immunohematological requisitions and samples.

Keywords

• audit
• immunohematology
• reference testing center