Improving supply of safe blood and reducing cost of transfusion service through haemovigilance

• Published in: The Nigerian postgraduate medical journal Vol. 16; no. 4; p. 236
• Main Author: Arewa, O P
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Nigeria 01-12-2009
• Subjects: Blood Banks - standards; Blood Transfusion - economics; Blood Transfusion - standards; Fever - epidemiology; Hospitals, Teaching; Humans; Medical Audit - economics; Nigeria - epidemiology; Prospective Studies; Quality Assurance, Health Care - organization & administration; Surveys and Questionnaires; Transfusion Reaction
• ISSN: 1117-1936
• DOI: 10.4103/1117-1936.181405

Availability of safe blood remains a major challenge for many developing countries. Unnecessary discontinuation of scarce blood is a major conduit of wastage of scarce blood, as well as man hours and funds. Haemovigilance is a national system of surveillance and alarm, from blood collection to the follow-up of the recipients, gathering and analysing all untoward effects of blood transfusion in order to correct their cause and prevent recurrence. A prospective study to audit discontinuation of blood transfusion at the Obafemi Awolowo University Teaching Hospital Ile-Ife over a period of one and half years was done. Simple febrile non-haemolytic transfusion reaction (FNHTR) was the leading indication for such discontinuation (66.7%). More than half of discontinued transfusion due to FNHTR (58%) was successfully completed on review by trained personnel in transfusion medicine. A system of haemovigilance if incorporated into the blood transfusion service will promote effective monitoring of blood transfusion and reduce wastage of scarce blood/blood products.