Resource available to support audit findings

Australian Red Cross Lifeblood has developed a new fresh frozen plasma (FFP) prescribing resource with dosing and indication prompts to support safe and appropriate plasma transfusions.

This was in response to a national FFP audit as part of a collaboration between the National Blood Transfusion Committee and Blood Matters Program in Victoria.

Hosted by Lifeblood's unique Audit tool, the audit captured 935 FFP transfusion episodes across 140 health services and provided greater insights into the use and prescribing patterns of plasma in Australia.

The audit identified significant variation in practice and met its intent of identifying areas for improved practice and use of FFP in Australian patients.   

The full audit results can be found in the recently published article in ‘The Journal of AABB Transfusion’ and you can read the Blood Matters FFP 2023 Report here.  

The lens of PBM on World Patient Safety Day

Tuesday 17 September was World Patient Safety Day - and this year's theme was ‘Improving diagnosis for patient safety’ in recognition of the critical importance of correct and timely diagnoses. 

With the slogan ‘Get it right, make it safe’, the World Health Organization (WHO) calls for concerted efforts to reduce diagnostic errors. A diagnosis identifies a patient’s health problem and is key to accessing the care and treatment they need.  

Patient blood management (PBM) initiatives have helped ensure that the cause of anaemia is assessed, the underlying diagnosis and contributing factors determined, and specific therapy given where available. For example, in iron deficiency anaemia, this includes making sure investigation and management of the underlying cause/s (such as bleeding from serious GI pathology), and providing timely iron therapy in parallel, which can prevent unnecessary transfusion.

What's changing with Lifeblood's irradiation indicator labels?

From mid to late October, Lifeblood is introducing a change to the irradiation indicator labels you see on irradiated blood components such as platelets and red cells. 

The existing RAD-SURE™ indicator is being replaced by the RAD-CONTROL STANDARD indicator. There will be no changes to the placement of the label on irradiated units, however the new label is slightly smaller than the current label.

The first site to change to the new labels will be the Brisbane Processing Centre (BPC). However, because Lifeblood moves components around the country, customers outside of Queensland may receive platelets with the new RADCONTROL indicator labels before their local processing centre has changed over to the new labels. 

As the transition progresses to other processing sites, the Melbourne Processing Centre (MPC) will be the last to change. As a result, the MPC will acquire all remaining national stocks of RADSURE labels and so other sites around the country may continue to receive components from Melbourne with the old labels until their RADSURE label stocks are exhausted. 

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