Evaluation of the blood transfusion strategy in Baghdad Teaching Hospital

Abstract EN

Background : Guidelines for blood products transfusion are needed to avoid unnecessary blood transfusion in acute and chronic anaemias to minimize complications.

Objective : To evaluate the practice of blood transfusion in Baghdad Teaching Hospital.

Patients and methods : One hundred and sixty adults Iraqi patients, who had blood transfusion, were selected randomly from different wards of Baghdad Teaching Hospital including General Medicine (GM), General Surgery (GS), Gynecology / Obstetrics (G/O), forty patients from each ward, from October 2011 to October 2012.

Collected data included age, gender, type of ward, indication for transfusion, pre-transfusion packed cell volume (PCV) and hemoglobin (Hb), type (whole blood or red blood cells (RBCs)) and number of units transfused.

Results : Pre-transfusion PCV was >30 % (Hb >10gm / dl) in 23.1 % of the patients, and were highest in G/O (47.5 %) and GS (37.5 %) wards.

Whole blood was given instead of RBCs to 60 % of patients (100 % in G/O and GS).Single unit blood was given to 22.5 % of patients (37.5 % in G/O and 35 % In GS.

Conclusion : There is general unawareness of the risks of blood transfusion in Baghdad Teaching Hospital as shown by the use of whole blood instead of RBCs and single unit transfusion, so a more restrictive strategy is needed by following the international guidelines.