Urgent Delivery - Validation and Operational Implementation of Urgent Blood Delivery by Modern High Speed Hospital Pneumatic Tube System to Support Bleeding Emergencies Within a Hospital Massive Transfusion Protocol

Abstract

Abstract Background Timely blood delivery to patients with critical bleeding poses logistic challenges. A modern, high speed hospital pneumatic tube system (PTS) is one solution, but blood units may be subjected to high-speed torque and acceleration/deceleration forces. Objective To validate a new PTS system for potential use at our 1,400-bed hospital in Singapore. Method Our validation included red blood cells, platelets, thawed plasma, and cryoprecipitate units transported from the blood bank for a distance of 820 meters (PTS track), at a velocity of 3–6 meters per second. Transit time, temperature, bag integrity, and blood quality were assessed visually and through analytical testing on pre- and post-PTS specimens. Results Blood units arrived physically intact in less than 8 minutes. The temperature for each was within the acceptable range. Comparative testing of pre-PTS and post-PTS specimens showed no significant difference in physical quality and analyzed parameters (P> .05). Conclusions High speed PTS transportation of blood components has satisfactory fidelity and speed, without significant impact on quality. As a result, we incorporated PTS blood delivery into the hospital massive-transfusion protocol and successfully operationalized that new system.