Present conditions and issues of blood transfusions for outpatients at Kurashiki Medical Center

Abstract

At the Kurashiki Medical Center, “the standard of safe blood transfusions for outpatients (standard of our center)” was established and considered to conduct blood transfusions for outpatients. However, the plan could not be realized owing to the lack of space and staff members. In 2014, our center reviewed and started blood transfusions for a limited number of outpatients and space. Currently, it is increasing the number of target patients. We surveyed all cases indicated for treatment (17 cases, 11 patients) between April 2014 and December 2017. The implementation rate of blood transfusions for outpatients was 88.2% (15/17 cases). There were 13 cases of transfusion of red blood cell products and 2 cases of transfusion of platelet products, and no transfusion reactions were observed in all these cases. The compliance rate of our standard was low (33.3%). The important point to consider is that not all staff members were well informed about standard of our center when increasing the number of target patients. It is important to share and improve the knowledge of safe blood transfusion services among all staff members.