The Inventory Levels of Red Blood Cells from Sentinel Hospitals in Korea according to the Blood Type

Chang, Woong Rin; Lim, Young Ae

Abstract

BACKGROUND: A survey for determining the inventory levels of blood products in hospitals is needed, not only for the effective management of the blood products, but also for controlling and planning of the blood supply in Korea. However, any nation-wide survey has never been reported in Korea. Our aims were to provide the information about the status of the RBCs inventory levels of each blood type in the hospitals, and to suggest guidelines for estimating the inventory levels of hospitals.
METHODS
We analyzed the data of the average daily usage, the ideal inventory levels and the minimal inventory levels of RBCs according to the each blood type for 28 sentinel hospitals that participate in the 'blood inventory monitoring system'. This system is a surveillance program for monitoring the usage and inventory levels of blood products.
RESULTS
The hospitals showed different levels for the average daily usage, the ideal inventory and the minimal inventory according to each blood type. The average daily usage, the ideal inventory level and the minimal inventory level of blood type A were the highest compared to those of the other blood types. For each blood type, the average ideal inventory level is about 5 times higher than the average daily usage, and the average minimal inventory level is about 2 times higher than the average daily usage.
CONCLUSION
This is the first nation-wide report on the average daily usage, the ideal inventory levels and the minimal inventory level of each blood type for Korean hospitals, and this data will be helpful to understand the inventory status and estimate the inventory levels of blood products.