Hospital Highlight: Alberta North Zone
Canadian Blood Services recognizes that all hospital customers work very hard to optimize the utilization of blood components and plasma protein products. In this column we take the opportunity to highlight some of that hard work and new initiatives underway at hospitals across the country. The Alberta North Zone is the focus of our Hospital Highlight for this issue of BloodNotes.
Optimizing Blood Inventory in Northern Alberta—a research project
By Astrid Maguire, Transfusion Safety Officer, Alberta North Zone
Medical Laboratory Science students are required to do a research project in their fourth year. This year, the project chosen by Chantal Laliberté, a student at the University of Alberta was titled Optimizing Blood Inventory in Northern Alberta. Chantal collected and analyseddata from Meditech and from Canadian Blood Services. She used this data to create site specific tools to help determine the level of red cell inventory that should be stocked by the hospital. The level is determined based on hospital usage, trauma support needs, services provided at the site, and transport routes available including distances for STARS to travel.
With this information, Alberta North Zone was able to align hospital sites with more appropriate red cell stock levels. The data is also helpful when discussing inventory levels with physicians and technologists. Evaluating the optimum inventory for each site aimed to find a balance between holding adequate stock levels for patient trauma while avoiding excessive redistribution or discard rates.
Below is an example of the how the inventory tool works using data for Slave Lake:
Current Stock:
|
Slave Lake |
O+ |
A+ |
B+ |
AB+ |
O- |
A- |
B- |
AB- |
|
Stock |
3 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
2 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
Suggested Inventory:
|
|
Rh Positive |
Rh Negative |
||||||
|
|
O |
A |
B |
AB |
O |
A |
B |
AB |
|
Slave Lake |
3 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
3 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
Suggested Min/Max Inventory levels:
|
Slave Lake |
O |
A |
B |
AB |
O |
A |
B |
AB |
|
Minimum Inventory held |
2 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
2 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
|
Maximum Inventory held |
4 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
4 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
Explanation:
Slave Lake will order when inventory falls to 2 group O Pos or Neg
Slave Lake will order up to a maximum of 4 group O’s and 1 group A
Group O was increased from the suggested after considering the following:
- Hospital should have enough to address a trauma (4-6 units) in emergency
- Obstetrical services offered at hospital
- 9-hour wait for STAT blood order requests, and STAT requests are regular (up to once a week)
In addition to optimal inventory levels, Chantal produced data showing the impact of starting redistribution of blood components at just one of the North Zone sites.
Image
Chantal’s project was presented as a poster at the Canadian Society for Transfusion Medicine Conference in May 2016.
We commend Chantal for her work. It resulted in an effective tool that will be applicable for blood inventory management in other Alberta North Zone sites.
Is your hospital working on utilization optimization or inventory management initiatives? We want to hear from you! To share your success story in a future BloodNotes issue, please contact your local Hospital Liaison Specialist.