Daedong Hospital, Health Insurance Review and Assessment Service '1st Blood Transfusion Appropriateness Evaluation' Grade 1

Daedong Hospital.

[Asia Economy Yeongnam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Hwang Du-yeol] Daedong Hospital received a Grade 1 rating in the ‘1st Blood Transfusion Appropriateness Evaluation’ announced by the Health Insurance Review and Assessment Service (HIRA) on the 27th.

The evaluation awards a Grade 1 rating to institutions that achieve a total score of 85 or higher across eight indicators, including four evaluation indicators and four monitoring indicators.

The award was given to Daedong Hospital and 158 other institutions out of 515 medical institutions nationwide that participated.

Blood transfusion is a critical concept that can affect patient safety and life.

While it was previously focused on diseases such as hemorrhage and anemia, recently it has been applied in various fields including surgery and organ transplantation, making the management of transfusion risks and the appropriateness of transfusion volume increasingly important.

According to HIRA, South Korea is facing difficulties in blood supply due to declining birth rates, entering an aging society, and the COVID-19 pandemic, but blood usage is relatively high compared to advanced countries, making blood usage management urgent.

In response to the need for managing blood usage and ensuring the safety of transfusion patients, HIRA conducted the 1st Blood Transfusion Appropriateness Evaluation from October 2020 to March 2021. This evaluation targeted hospitalized patients aged 18 and older in medical institutions at the hospital level or higher, using indicator evaluation and monitoring.

The evaluation indicators included ▲ possession of a transfusion checklist ▲ rate of unexpected antibody screening tests ▲ red blood cell transfusion in unilateral total knee arthroplasty performed in orthopedics related to blood usage management and appropriate transfusion ▲ transfusion rate based on pre-transfusion blood tests ▲ and transfusion rate in surgical patients.

The monitoring indicators included ▲ transfusion management performance rate ▲ preoperative anemia correction rate ▲ one unit (1 Unit) transfusion rate ▲ and transfusion volume indicators.

Kang Jeong-eun, head of the Department of Laboratory Medicine at Daedong Hospital, said, “Daedong Hospital will not be satisfied with the evaluation results and will educate and encourage all staff to be vigilant and do their best in their respective duties to create a safe transfusion environment.”

Jo Mi-hyun, head of the Evaluation Office at HIRA, said, “To improve social interest and awareness about blood transfusion, we will continue quality improvement support activities and gradually expand the scope of transfusion evaluations to ensure patient safety and appropriate blood use.”

The evaluation results can be checked on the HIRA website and the Health Information application.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.