title: Quality indicators for the hospital transfusion chain: a national survey conducted in 100 dutch hospitals.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  The 2011 Dutch Blood Transfusion Guideline for hospitals incorporates seven internal quality indicators for evaluation of the hospital transfusion chain. The indicators aim to measure guideline compliance as shown by the instatement of a hospital transfusion committee and transfusion safety officer (structural indicators), observance of transfusion triggers and mandatory traceability of labile blood components (process indicators).
  
  
  METHODS
  Two voluntary online surveys were sent to all Dutch hospitals for operational years 2011 and 2012 to assess compliance with the guideline recommendations.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Most hospitals had a hospital transfusion committee and had appointed a transfusion safety officer (TSO). In 2012, only 23% of hospitals complied with the recommended minimum of four annual transfusion committee meetings and 8 h/week for the TSO. Compliance with the recommended pretransfusion haemoglobin threshold for RBC transfusion was achieved by 90% of hospitals in over 80% of transfusions; 58% of hospitals measured the pretransfusion platelet count in over 80% of platelet transfusions and 87% of hospitals complied with the legally mandatory traceability of blood components in over 95% of transfusions.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  With the current blood transfusion indicators, it is feasible to monitor aspects of the quality of the hospital transfusion chain and blood transfusion practice and to assess guideline compliance. The results from this study suggest that there are opportunities for significant improvement in blood transfusion practice in the Netherlands. These indicators could potentially be used for national and international benchmarking of blood transfusion practice.
authors.affiliation: TRIP National Hemovigilance and Biovigilance Office, The Hague, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: P Y
authors.initials: PY
authors.lastname: Zijlker-Jansen
authors.affiliation: Julius Centre for Health Sciences and Primary Care, University Medical Centre Utrecht, Utrecht, The Netherlands.|Sanquin Blood Supply, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: M P
authors.initials: MP
authors.lastname: Janssen
authors.affiliation: TRIP National Hemovigilance and Biovigilance Office, The Hague, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: A J W
authors.initials: AJ
authors.lastname: van Tilborgh-de Jong
authors.affiliation: TRIP National Hemovigilance and Biovigilance Office, The Hague, The Netherlands.|Hematology Department, Haga Teaching hospital, The Hague, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: M R
authors.initials: MR
authors.lastname: Schipperus
authors.affiliation: TRIP National Hemovigilance and Biovigilance Office, The Hague, The Netherlands.|Sanquin Blood Supply, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: J C
authors.identifier: http://orcid.org/0000-0003-3451-9911
authors.initials: JC
authors.lastname: Wiersum-Osselton
mesh_terms: D001803:Blood Transfusion / Q000592:standards*; D006761:Hospitals; D006801:Humans; D009426:Netherlands; D019984:Quality Indicators, Health Care / Q000458:organization & administration; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires
keywords: blood transfusion; blood transfusion committee; quality indicators; traceability; transfusion safety officer; transfusion triggers