In spite of vigorous efforts to enhance appropriateness of blood usage in surgery, it is recognized that there are still not a few overuse and misuse of blood products in Korean hospitals. To assure appropriate use of blood, continuous monitoring
and
controlling blood orders, particularly for surgical operations, should be implemented. The indicator of 'ratio of crossmatching to transfusion (C/T ratio) has been focalized on in this regard. The authors investigated C/T ratio for eight
hospitals,
evenly distributed in their geographicl location as well as size. Only elective surgeries operated from March 1 to May 31, 1995 were included for analysis. Standardized survey format was distributed, and retrospective reviews of medical records
were
performed by volunteer surveyors from each hospital after two sessions of presurvey education. The results were as follows.
Average C/T ratio, for all hospitals and all surgeries, was 1.76 Differences in C/T ratio by sex, months, clinical departments, blood components were not significant. However, the ratio showed increasing tendency with ages.
The C/T ratio on the average was not higher, compared with the recommended guideline. However, due to study's limitations in standardization of survey method and verification of data, we could not conclude that current status of appropriateness
of
blood
use is satisfactory. In addition, to pervasively use the C/T ratio as a quality indicator for blood use management, supplementary measures, such as standardization of data, should be adopted.
|