A Nationwide Survey Report on the Blood Transfusion Services in Korea .
- Author:
Eun Jung BAEK
1
;
Sungsil LEE
;
Sungwook SONG
;
Sinyoung KIM
;
Young Ae LIM
;
Deok Ja OH
;
Hyun Ok KIM
Author Information
1. Department of Laboratory Medicine, Yonsei University College of Medicine, Seoul, Korea. hyunok1019@yuhs.ac
- Publication Type:Original Article
- Keywords:
Blood bank;
Data collection;
Transfusion;
Quality control
- MeSH:
Blood Banks;
Blood Transfusion;
Certification;
Data Collection;
Information Dissemination;
Korea;
Postal Service;
Quality Control;
Red Cross;
Ships;
Surveys and Questionnaires
- From:Korean Journal of Blood Transfusion
2008;19(3):180-186
- CountryRepublic of Korea
- Language:Korean
-
Abstract:
BACKGROUND: Inspecting thestatus of blood banks has been done for the larger Korean hospitals, but it has never been done for the smaller ones on a nationwide scale in Korea. Here, we analyzed the status of the blood banks for their transfusion services and equipment, and especially for the smaller hospitals. METHODS: The subjects were all the hospitals that were provided more than one unit of blood by the Korea Red Cross (KRC) in 2006. We divided the hospitals to a big-hospital group and a small-hospital group that received over or under 5,000 units of blood, respectively, from the Korea Red Cross in 2006. The questionnaires were delivered by mail. RESULTS: The number of total hospitals was 2,488 and the number of hospitals in the small-hospital group was 2,381, and this accounted for 95.7% of the total hospitals. The response rate was 23.1%. Among the small-hospital group, 35% had no working manual, 61% were not involved in certification programs and 17% had no refrigerators that were exclusively used for blood. Furthermore, 31% performed only cell typing as ABO typing, 69% didn't test for antibody detection, and 7% used a slide method for crossmatching tests. Only 6% used a blood information sharing system and only 28.4% of the hospitals shipped blood by blood transport containers. The mean amount of discarded blood was 16.8 units and the main component was RBC. CONCLUSION: The level of management and services showed a great difference between the two groups of Korean hospitals. The small-hospital group is thought to need more support and attention from the government. This study will supply essential data for understanding the current state of blood transfusion services and establishing government policies for safe transfusion.
