Scientific Journal of

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  Abstract

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 Background and Objectives

  Hospital blood transfusion committees supervise blood transfusion in hospitals. These committees could save time and cost by prevention of blood loss. This study was conducted to assess the performance of hospital blood transfusion committees in Tehran in 2005-2006.

 

  Materials and Methods

  In this retrospective study, 46 reports from 13 hospitals (9 community and 4 private) being sent to Tehran Blood Transfusion Center in 2005-2006 were assessed. All reports were assessed from the perspective of duties entrusted by Iranian Ministry of Health. These duties were classified as (1) report of blood transfusion complications, (2) statistical report of blood transfusions, (3) statistical report of blood orders from different wards of hospitals, (4) report of blood transfusion indications, (5) report of educational programs, and (6) assessment of personnel problems and equipment of blood banks.

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 Results

  Report of blood transfusion complications (77%) and report of blood transfusion indications (23%) were the most and the least reported duties, respectively. The most and the least relative frequencies for all hospitals, community, and private hospitals were 23%-77%, 33%-78% and 0%-75%, respectively. Committee reports in community hospitals were better than private ones, though the difference was not statistically significant (p>0.05). Cross match to transfusion ratio was considerable only in one hospital (3.05).

 

 Conclusions

  This study showed that reports of hospital blood transfusion committees in Tehran in 2005-2006 are in a relatively poor condition. This condition in private hospitals was worse than community ones. More focus on reports of blood transfusion indications seems to be necessary. Since cross match to transfusion ratio is an important performance indicator for hospitals, it should receive a higher level of attention of hospital committees.

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 Key words: Process assessment, Blood transfusion, Blood grouping and crossmatching, Iran

 

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Background Deferral for travel to malaria-endemic areas has excluded many blood donors in the Iran. To determine the effect of these deferrals on blood availability and safety we designed this study. Materials and Methods In cross sectional and retrospective study deferred donors due to malaria related risk factors from 2005-2010 in Tehran Blood Transfusion Center were sampled to enroll for analysis. Data were extracted from MAK data base by two different grouped keywords. 2827129 record of blood donor volunteers were surveyed for the study. Results 23462 out of all volunteers were deferred due to malaria`s risks from 2005-2010 in Tehran Blood Transfusion Center. The most frequent deferral causes related to malaria was shown travel to malaria endemic areas. The trend of deferral volunteers due to malaria's risks was shown descending pattern after relaxing application of the present guideline for travel to very low-risk areas such as Karbala. Conclusions We estimated that the wastage of more than 7000 units of blood were prevented annually by accepting volunteers who travelled to very low malaria's risk areas, but according to other similar studies it seem wiser to defer them for a short period(e.g. 3 months), instead without deferral period . If cost permits, The introduction of a malarial screening test in the assessment of malaria's risk blood donor eligibility would be an ideal strategy.

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Abstract
Background and Objectives
The most common type of reaction in blood donors is vasovagal reactions (VVRs). VVRs can negatively affect donor retention. The aim of this study was to assess the frequency of VVRs in Kurdistan Blood Center and impact of VVRs on donor return rates.
 
Materials and Methods
A descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted on the donors referring to Blood Center of Kurdistan province in 2015. In addition, donors who had VVRs were evaluated for return donation within 12 months. Results were analyzed by SPSS 16 software and Pearson's correlation was applied for analysis.
 
Results
A total of 25891 blood donors were enrolled. Of the total number of donors, 170 (0.65%) experienced VVRs (157 male and 13 female); of these, 164 (95.9%) developed mild reaction, 3 (1.8%) had moderate, and 4 (2.4%) developed severe reaction. The mean age of female and male donors who experienced VVRs was 31.4 and 30.73 years, respectively.  First-time donors (1.2%) had greater possibility to have a reaction. Donors with hemoglobin less than 15 gr/dl were significantly associated with VVR (p=0.004). The correlation of the body weight with VVR was significant (p=0.008). The return rate within 1 year was 18% (32/170) among donors with VVRs.
 
Conclusions 
The results showed that the frequency of vasovagal reactions is higher in men with a greater weight loss than the minimum defined for blood donation.
 

 

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A B S T R A C T
Background and Objectives
Hemoglobin screening is a mandatory prerequisite for blood donation, which is performed on all blood donors. Hemoglobinometer’s devices are among the conventional tools used for this screening in Blood Transfusion Centers. The objective of this study is to evaluate the quality control of a hemoglobinometer device developed by a knowledge-based company prior to its deployment in Blood Transfusion Centers.
Materials and Methods
This study utilized venous and capillary blood samples collected from donors at Blood Transfusion Centers in Tehran, Alborz, Qazvin and Fars provinces. The evaluation was conducted in two phases. In the first phase, a comparative evaluation of the studied hemoglobinometer was performed using the Sysmex XT 2000i Automated Haematology Analyzer as the reference standard, analyzing 135 blood samples. In the second phase, the device was evaluated against the CompoLab TM hemoglobinometer, curently used in Blood Transfusion Centers, with 194 samples. Statistical analysis including Bland-Altman, Sensitivity, Specificity, Positive Predictive Value (PPV), Negative Predictive Value (NPV), Accuracy and Intraclass Correlation (ICC) were conducted using R software version 4.4.1.
Results
The mean ± standard deviations of hemoglobin concentration measured by the reference and studied devices was 12.55 ± 2.32 g/dL and 12.42 ± 1.60 g/dL, respectively. Bland Altman analysis revealed no significant difference between the measurement obtained from the hemoglobinometer device and the reference method. The ICC demonestrated nearly perfect agreement between the two devices (0.80 < ICC< 0.89, 95% CI). A linear regression analysis was conducted to assess the correlation between the two devices. The analysis revealed a statistically significant correlation between two devices (R= 92, p< 0.0000001). The sensitivity, specificity, PPV, NPV, and accuracy of the studied device compared to the reference method were found reported to be 71.60%, 75.0%, 90.10%, 45.30%, and 72.40%, respectively.
Conclusions 
Based on the finding of the current study, comparative analysis between the studied hemoglobinometer and the reference method demonestrated that the device meets acceptable performance criteria for hemoglobin concentration measurement within the permissible range required for blood donation screening. Therefore the hemoglobinometer is suitable for implementaion in Blood Transfusion Centers as a reliable screening tool.