QUALITY INDICATORS TO ACCESS PERFORMANCE OF BLOOD TRANSFUSION SERVICES OF TERTIARY CARE HOSPITAL IN NORTH INDIA.

Background and Objectives: Ensuring quality in transfusion services has become an essential part of the hospital quality management system (QMS) to provide safe blood supply to the patients. The present retrospective study was conducted to assess quality performance of the blood center put forward by the National Accreditation Board for Hospitals and Healthcare Providers (NABH). Methods: The seven quality indicators (QI) defined by NABH were observed and monitored yearly for a period of four years from January 2019 to December 2022, information was gathered in a structured manner, root causes for any deviation were analyzed, and specific corrective and preventive actions were taken. Results: The overall performance was found to be satisfactory with mean transfusion-transmitted infection (TTI) rate being 1.6% and adverse transfusion reaction rate 0.35%, The wastage rate was 1.025% for whole blood & PRBC, 11.7% for platelets and 4.92% for fresh frozen plasma. The Quality control (QC) failure rates were meeting the quality requirement. The overall donor deferral rate and adverse donor reaction rate were 14% and 0.78% respectively. The component issued in study period was 99.8%. Conclusion: Quality improvement enables an organization to attain higher level of performance by creating better standards and removing deficiencies in product, processes or services. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]