Abstract
The law to secure the stable supply of safe blood products came into effect on July 31, 2002. Now that about a year has passed, we reviewed the management of blood transfusion in International Medical Center of Japan. Blood Transfusion Service has promoted a campaign for the appropriate management of blood transfusion in cooperation with Hospital Transfusion Committee since March 2000. Consequently, consumption of fresh frozen plasma halved from 10, 348 units in 1999 to 4, 240 units in 2002 and 1, 686 units of whole blood in 1999 decreased to zero in 2002. There were three cases of ABO-incompatible blood transfusion at two wards and ICU which occurred in the middle of the night. The main causes of transfusion error were change of blood bags by nurses and incorrect blood typing by doctors. For the optimal use of blood components, the establishment of a transfusion division plays a key role. Accordingly, the management of blood transfusion should be monitored 24 hours throughout the year by medical technologists. Moreover, a computer supervision system is necessary to minimize human error and also to assist with other tasks.
