Blood Transfusion Request and Utilization: The Trend in a Tertiary Health Care Centre in North Central Nigeria

Background: An effective blood transfusion service is anchored on an adequate supply of safe blood and its components as well as its accessibility and appropriate clinical use. There is a contrast in blood supplies and utilization between the high, middle and low-income countries necessitating the formulation of appropriate modalities to ensure judicious use of blood while minimizing wastage.

Aims: This study was aimed at assessing the blood transfusion request trend in our institution and its utilization with the intent of curtailing the wastage of safe blood for transfusion.

Study Design: It is a retrospective study.

Place and Duration of Study: Jos University Teaching Hospital Blood Bank from January 2022 to December 2022.

Methodology: Appropriately filled blood transfusion request forms of the Jos University Teaching Hospital compared with the blood bank In-house records from January 2022 to December 2022 were reviewed. Request dates, requesting Department, Unit or Specialty, indications for request, Number of units requested, and number eventually utilized were used to determine blood transfusion indices which are indicative of efficient and significant blood use.

Results: Eight thousand, five hundred forty-eight (8,548) blood transfusion request forms from the blood bank and patients' folders were reviewed and compared with the Blood Bank's in-house records. Requests for blood transfusion for over 460 indications were received from twenty-six (26) departments and units. There was a general Crossmatch: Transfusion ratio (C: T) of 1.7 with a transfusion index (TI) of 1.2 and transfusion probability (TP) of 48.0%.

Conclusion: Transfusion requests were characterized by low utilization across departments and units. This calls for the establishment of a transfusion protocol for the determination of blood volume required for every indication so that this limited commodity will be made available and accessible when needed.