Date of Award

4-26-2014

Degree Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Public Administration (MPA)

Abstract

Blood utilization programs retroactively examine the appropriateness of blood transfusions, with the goal of finding areas for improvement which could ultimately lead to minimizing blood usage. While blood transfusions save lives they can also have a negative impact which would include but not be limited to, infectious and non-infectious risks for the patient, impacting the community’s blood supply by decreasing the number of available units, and an increase in overall healthcare cost during a patient’s stay. Sutter Medical Center, Sacramento’s transfusion department is reviewing the need to implement a blood utilization program, which would examine the appropriateness of the blood transfusions their healthcare providers are ordering. While improving patient safety and blood supply conservation are strong incentives to implement the program, the main motivator is as a potential cost savings measure. The intent of this paper is to review transfused blood components and determine appropriateness based on pre laboratory results, whether there are enough outliers to justify moving forward with the blood utilization program. With this information, Sutter Medical Center will determine whether to move forward with implementing the blood utilization program or look at others ways to potentially reduce costs.

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