An audit of appropriate use of blood products in adult patients in a Venezuelan general university hospital.
OBJECTIVE
To audit appropriate use of blood products in adult patients.


METHODS
A cross-sectional study with pre-set criteria.


METHODS
Ciudad Hospitalaria 'Dr. Enrique Tejera', the main public tertiary-care hospital in Valencia, Venezuela.


METHODS
We studied 700 adult patients from the Medicine, Surgery, Emergency and Obstetrics departments.


METHODS
Appropriate use of blood products.


RESULTS
Seven hundred patients who had an average of 2.45 transfusions (95% confidence interval = 2.28-2.62) were studied. Prevalence of appropriate use was 51.3% for all departments. Prevalence by department was: 72% for Medicine, 36% for Surgery, 56% for Emergency, and 47% for Obstetrics. The average number of transfusions per subject in each department was: Medicine, 3.41; Surgery, 1.75; Obstetrics, 2.09; and Emergency: 2.81 (F-test: P=0.005). Using the department of Medicine as the reference group, it was found that the departments of Surgery, Emergency and Obstetrics had a higher 'risk' of inappropriate use of transfusions, showing odds ratios of 4.4, 1.38 and 2.79 respectively.


CONCLUSIONS
The main conclusions of this study are: (i) the prevalence of the appropriate use of blood products was 51%; (ii) packed red cells and fresh frozen plasma were the blood products with the lowest prevalence of appropriate use; and (iii) none of the departments showed rates of appropriate use of transfusions greater than 80%, implying a higher cost in health care and putting patients at a higher risk for acquiring a transfusion-transmitted disease.
Martí-Carvajal
A J
AJ
Department of Medicine, Ciudad Hospitalaria Dr. Enrique Tejera and Universidad de Carabobo, Venezuela. amarti@thor.uc.edu.ve
Muñoz-Navarro
S R
SR
Peña-Martí
G E
GE
Comunian
G
G
D000328:Adult; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D001803:Blood Transfusion / Q000592:standards / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D016009:Chi-Square Distribution; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D006300:Health Services Misuse / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D006785:Hospitals, University; D006801:Humans; D016015:Logistic Models; D008297:Male; D008485:Medical Audit; D011785:Quality Assurance, Health Care / Q000379:methods*; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D014687:Venezuela