Assessment of Blood Transfusion Utilization and Patient Outcomes at Yekatit-12 Hospital, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

BACKGROUND: The goal of blood transfusion is to provide a safe, sufficient, and timely supply of blood components to the recipients by ensuring that donation is safe and no harm to the recipient. So the current study was aimed to assess blood transfusion utilization and its outcome in patients at Yekatit-12 Hospital, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. METHODS: A cross-sectional study was conducted from May 01 to July 30, 2021, on 616 individuals who have requested blood transfusion at Yekatit-12 Hospital, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Information on blood and blood component utilization was collected by using a checklist. Finally, data were analyzed using SPSS version 21.0, and those variables in which P-value is less than 0.05 were considered statistically clinically significant. RESULTS: A total of 1540 cross-match units were requested for 616 (53.2% male) patients with a mean age of 43 years. Out of 1540 cross-matched blood units, 1498 units of blood were transfused for 615 individuals with a mean of 2.43 units. The most widely used blood component was whole blood 694 (46.3%) and 1252 (83.6%) of the blood unit were “RH” positive. From a total of 68 (11.1%) none improved reported cases, 48 (10.5%) were those transfused with whole blood transfusion. The proportion of improvement after transfusion according to the service ranged from 83.3.0% to 100% and no post-transfusion reactions were reported. A significant improvement was seen in the hematological profile (hemoglobin, red blood cells, hematocrit, platelets, and white blood cells) findings of the transfused individuals after blood unit transfusion (P < 0.05). CONCLUSION: The overall utilization rate and improvement status after transfusion were high even if the utilization rate has some limitations. The overall ratios of cross-match to transfusion ratio, transfusion probability, and transfusion index were 1.03, 99.8%, and 0.97, respectively.