Evaluation of Blood Utilization in Teaching Hospitals Affiliated to Qom University

Nowadays the performance of hospital blood banks is assessed by cross-match to transfused unit ratio which it is recommended to be less than 2.0. The aim of this study was to evaluate the most common indications for blood transfusion in Qum University hospitals. In this retrospective study 4370 blood order forms from March 2010 till April 2011 were assessed. To calculate C/T ratio, the number of cross-matched units was divided by the number of transfused units. Of total 4370 blood order, 57.1% were male. From all blood order forms, 16.42% (C/T: 1.196) were not transfused. The highest rate of blood orders pertained to surgery emergency and trauma (23.3%), hematology and oncology (14%), gynecology (11.3%), internal ward and nephrology (8%), infectious ward (6.9%), burn ward (5.9%), general surgery (4.4%), orthopedics (3.2%), ICU (2.3%) and pediatrics (8.6%). Packed cell was the product with the highest order rate of 78.7% in Qom teaching hospitals; however, out of this rate 44% remained untransfused. According to the findings of this study the rate of non-transfused ordered blood components in Qom teaching hospitals seems very high. Thus, it is recommended to employ the international and/or national guidelines in order to reach to optimal rate.