Randall Schaefer: What Do Blood Product Wastage Rates Really Tell Us in Prehospital Care?
Randall Schaefer, CEO of Schaefer Consulting, shared a post on LinkedIn:
“Yes. There is a difference between the two definitions.
How you track, measure, and report it can impact your program.
Blood Product Discard.
A broad operational term for any blood product removed from inventory and disposed of in compliance with biomedical regulations. Generally, these discards are mandatory to maintain patient safety and product quality.
Examples: shelf-life expiration, container damage/leaking, plus testing for transfusion-transmitted infections (HIV, Hep B or C).
Blood Product Wastage.
A subset of discards defined strictly as loss resulting from mismanagement, inefficiency, or preventable factors. Generally avoidable; may relate to operational and communication flaws rather than product safety.
Examples: breaking the cold chain due to improper handling, over-ordering inventory that expires (i.e., not tracking your utilization rates), dropping a bag, or spiking a bag for transfusion when it isn’t needed.
Overall utilization rate – total units transfused/total units brought into your system.
Blood product utilization will vary by day of the week, planned/unplanned events, and seasonal use (ie: trauma use always increases when the weather is nice).
The Prehospital Blood Transfusion Coalition recommends targeting a 20%- 30% waste rate for early program implementation, with a measurable plan to keep it lower.
Ultimately, all wastage results in a discard, but not all discards are wastage.
An agency must define the above and set benchmarks for each.
References:
Prehospital Blood Transfusion Coalition Framework for EMS Blood Program Coordinator Responsibilities.
AABB Prehospital Emergency and Out-of-Hospital Scheduled Transfusion Standards.
All blood discard does not count as wastage.”
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