Blood utilization in orthopedic and trauma practice

OBJECTIVES: Very little is known about blood utilization in orthopedic and trauma surgery and there is no definite policy in this regard. Our objective is to perform an audit on our practice of blood utilization in the orthopedic department. METHODS: We have retrospectively analyzed the data of patients who were admitted between January 2011 and December 2012 to the orthopedic male, female and pediatric wards for which blood products were requested. RESULTS: Three hundred and eight patients were admitted for surgery during the study period. The average age was 35.12 ± 20.4 years and postsurgery they stayed in the hospital for 25.60 ± 10.5 days. Blood products were requested for 223 trauma surgeries. In elective orthopedic procedures, only 42.78% of the blood requested was utilized while in trauma patients it was 55.25%. CONCLUSIONS: A substantial amount of blood and its product was used in trauma and elective orthopedic surgeries. There was a major discrepancy between the blood requested and utilized and secondly in the majority single unit transfusion was utilized, which is not within the fundamentals of blood transfusion.