A descriptive study of utilization of blood and blood components in a tertiary care hospital, Gadag

Blood Transfusion Service (BTS) is an essential part of modern health care system without which medical care is impossible. The blood components implies separation of whole blood into various components like packed red cells (PRBC), platelets rich plasma, fresh frozen plasma (FFP), cryoprecipitate and leucocytes. Separating blood into its various components allows a single unit of blood to benefit several patients and provides a patient only the blood component which is needed. However, transfusions are not without risks, and they should be given only when true benefits are likely. With the easy availability of blood products and increased risks of transfusion transmitted diseases, proper monitoring of the transfusion practices is necessary. A retrospective cross sectional study was conducted at District Hospital, Mallasamudra, Gadag. The data was collected from issue and cross matching register of last 1 year duration, from June 2018 to May 2019. Total 3744 blood units utilization was assessed. 2 units of blood units were given to 94 patients, 3 units to 22 patients and more than three units were given to 9 patients. As compared to males, females utilized the multiple episodes of blood. Total multiple units given were 130 in which 125 patients received the same blood components and others received different blood components. Even though the number of blood units utilized were 3744 but the total beneficiaries were 3614 patients. Most of the blood units were requested by Medicine department followed by OBG department. 1666 blood and blood components utilized by Medicine department and 1463 were requested by OBG department only for females and in Medicine department male patients utilized higher blood transfusions compared to females. Least units were utilized by Orthopedics department. ENT, Ophthalmology, Dermatology departments not requested any blood units. One unit of blood was given to Microbiology department for the culture preparation.