Abstract

Background:
Hemovigilance stands as a fundamental necessity for the safe transfusion practice. It is an essential component of quality management in transfusion.

Aim:
Study was conducted with the primary objective to determine the incidence of adverse transfusion reactions occurring in blood/ blood product recipients and secondary objectives were to access the imputability and severity of those adverse transfusion reactions.

Methods:
This was a cross-sectional, observational study conducted in the blood bank department of SHKM GMC Hospital, over a period of 1 year from October 2022 to September 2023. All patients admitted to the clinical wards and ICUs of different clinical departments who were transfused with whole blood/blood components and reported to have transfusion reaction during or after transfusion of blood components were enrolled in the study. The only exclusion criteria were the participants not willing to participate in the study.

Results:
The incidence of adverse transfusion reactions in the current study is 0.73%. Majority of ATR incidence was seen with whole blood 2.41% as compared to other blood components. Allergic reactions accounted for 40.91%, followed by febrile non-hemolytic transfusion reactions 33.33%. Most of adverse transfusion reactions in the study were non-severe (Grade-1) 84.85%. The imputability assessment of majority of the transfusion reactions was in probable 65.15% and possible category 24.24%.

Conclusion:
The current study highlights the significance of transfusing blood and blood components judiciously. Blood bank SOPs regarding transfusion should be strictly follow to prevent errors while transfusion.

Key words: Hemovigilance, Adverse transfusion reactions, Standard operating procedures, Febrile non-hemolytic reactions, Imputability