Effectiveness of intervention due to feedback on errors arising from inappropriate transportation and storage of blood bags in hospitals: a quasi-experimental study.

Background: The limited supply of red blood cells (RBCs) for transfusion has clinical implications, and can lead to the introduction of different approaches in decreasing blood wastage and the safe and effective delivery of blood products.

Objective: To identify the influences of feedback-based intervention on inappropriate temperatures during transportation and storage of blood bags.

Methods: This was a quasi-experimental pretest-posttest design with a non-equivalent control group that was carried out on 200 RBC. The study was conducted in a teaching hospital in Mashhad, Iran, and in two periods during the same season: winter of 2015 (pre-intervention period) and winter of 2016 (post-intervention period). Staff of the blood bank department, as the intervention group, received the intervention including feedback regarding the inappropriate temperature in the blood bank during the pre-intervention period. The control group included personnel and nurses from the OR, CSICU, and transportation department, who did not receive any feedback. The effect of the intervention on the RBCs' temperature was evaluated by comparing the percentage of inappropriate temperature of RBC bags before and after the implementation of the intervention.

Results: Inappropriate temperature in the blood bank decreased from 30% to 12% after the intervention was implemented (relative reduction of 60%). Meanwhile, there was even an increase in inappropriate temperature in the control group including OR (from 6.5% to 20.5%), CSICU (from 1% to 2.5%) and transportation (from 0.6% to 16.6%).

Conclusion: The implementation of a feedback-based intervention to increase the awareness of the staff of critical conditions can improve conditions of blood storage and transport. The use of various interventions along with this type of intervention seems necessary to increase effectiveness.

Funding: This research was part of the first author's MSc thesis which was supported by a grant from Mashhad University of Medical Science Research Council (Ref. no.: 950116; Date: September 7, 2016).