Document Detail


Bottlenecks of blood processing in Uganda.
MedLine Citation:
PMID:  20534031     Owner:  NLM     Status:  In-Process    
Abstract/OtherAbstract:
AIM: To identify where and why delays occur in Uganda blood banks.
BACKGROUND: The timely provision and supply of safe and efficacious blood components to hospitals depends on sound systems in the processing blood banks. Poorly managed systems lead to apparent blood shortages in hospitals and increase discard rates due to expiry before dispatch.
MATERIALS AND METHODS: We reviewed records of 4126 units of whole blood delivered by the mobile collection teams to a major regional blood bank, in the period 1 March 2009 to 30 June 2009, to ascertain the time intervals between the critical steps in the blood processing chain. This was followed by interviews with staff in two blood banks to establish the causes of process delays.
RESULTS: The average duration between blood collection and final labelling (release from quarantine for final storage) was 15·4 (SD 10·8) days. In timeline, the step between matrix generation and grouping was (median duration 8 days) the longest, whereas grouping to labelling was the shortest (median duration 2 days). Blood expiry had the highest discard rate (0·17%) among the non-transfusion transmissible infection marker causes. A minimally facilitated small staff contributed to the process flaws.
CONCLUSION: A considerable amount of blood does not reach hospitals because of process delays between collection and ultimate dispatch. This is caused by a thin staff working with inadequate materials, out-of-date methods and in an overcrowded environment. Provision of adequate staff and improved financial allocations to the Uganda Blood Transfusion Services will mitigate this situation.
Authors:
I Kajja; D Kyeyune; G S Bimenya; C T S Sibinga
Publication Detail:
Type:  Journal Article    
Journal Detail:
Title:  Transfusion medicine (Oxford, England)     Volume:  20     ISSN:  1365-3148     ISO Abbreviation:  Transfus Med     Publication Date:  2010 Oct 
Date Detail:
Created Date:  2010-11-05     Completed Date:  -     Revised Date:  -    
Medline Journal Info:
Nlm Unique ID:  9301182     Medline TA:  Transfus Med     Country:  England    
Other Details:
Languages:  eng     Pagination:  329-36     Citation Subset:  IM    
Copyright Information:
© 2010 The Authors. Transfusion Medicine © 2010 British Blood Transfusion Society.
Affiliation:
Department of Orthopedics, Makerere University College of Health Sciences, Kampala, Uganda. kajja133@gmail.com
Export Citation:
APA/MLA Format     Download EndNote     Download BibTex
MeSH Terms
Descriptor/Qualifier:

From MEDLINE®/PubMed®, a database of the U.S. National Library of Medicine


Previous Document:  Serial oxygen equilibrium and kinetic measurements during RBC storage.
Next Document:  Is it a case of transfusion-transmitted acute HBV or reactivation of occult hepatitis B virus infect...