Korean J Blood Transfus.  2016 Aug;27(2):122-129. 10.17945/kjbt.2016.27.2.122.

Utilization Analysis of Neonatal Red Blood Cell Aliquots and Development of Electronic Issuing System

• Nam M
• Kim MJ
• Choi SH
• Hong YJ
• Kim H
• Hwang SM
• Park JS
• Choi CW
• Park KU
• Song J
• Han KS

• KMID: 2350667
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.17945/kjbt.2016.27.2.122

Abstract

BACKGROUND
Although transfusion in neonates needs to be strictly regulated due to the vulnerability of neonates, there is lack of systematic studies and the working process is not well-established. This study was aimed to point out the problems of current status and to improve the efficiency of systems used in blood aliquots for neonatal transfusions.
METHODS
Total red blood cell (RBC) aliquots were analyzed between May 2009 and January 2016 in the neonate intensive care unit. We investigated the aliquot number, issued day interval from the first issued aliquot among the post-aliquots, patients' blood type, and discarded RBC units among the requested RBC units.
RESULTS
Of the 472 RBC aliquots, 95.4% (450/472) were divided into two units. The distribution of patients' blood type was similar to that of the Korean population, in decreasing order: A blood group (34.3%), B group (28.2%), and O group (27.5%). The second, third, and forth units of post-aliquots were taken after an average of 49.9 (0∼617.9) hours. Among the post-aliquots, the number of units discarded without use was 22.5%.
CONCLUSION
According to the evaluation of current status for neonatal transfusions, we should use aliquot RBC properly and reduce unnecessary requests for aliquot RBC. In addition, in order to reduce the number of near misses, we propose a new label to be attached on the aliquotted blood bags and suggest a development of electronic blood issuing system.

Keyword

Neonatal transfusion; Blood unit; Electronic systems

MeSH Terms

Erythrocytes*
Humans
Infant, Newborn
Intensive Care Units