A Potential Indicator for Assessing Patient Blood Management Standard Implementation

Abstract

(1) Background: Patient blood management (PBM) program as a multidisciplinary practice and a standard of care for the anemic surgical patient has an increasingly important role in reducing transfusions and optimizing both clinical outcomes and costs. Documented success of PBM implementation is not sufficient for implementation of recommendations and correct use at hospital level. The primary objective of our study was to define a composite patient blood management process safety index—Safety Index in PBM (SIPBM)—that measures the impact of screening and treating anemic patients on the efficiency and effectiveness of the patient care process undergoing elective surgery. (2) Methods: We conducted a retrospective comparative study in a tertiary hospital by collecting data and analyzing the Safety Index in PBM (SIPBM) in patients undergoing major elective surgical procedures. (3) Results: The percentage of patients from the total of 354 patients (178 in 2019 and 176 in 2022) included in the study who benefited from preoperative iron treatment increased in 2022 compared to 2019 from 27.40% to 36.71%. The median value of the SIPBM was 1.00 in both periods analyzed, although there is a significant difference between the two periods (p < 0.005), in favor of 2022. (4) Conclusions: Measuring the effectiveness of PBM implementation and providing ongoing feedback through the Safety Index in PBM (SIPBM) increases the degree to which opportunities to improve the PBM process are identified. The study represents a first step for future actions and baselines to develop tools to measure the safety and impact of the patient blood management process in the surgical field.