Quality indicators for blood establishments and hospital blood banks: A report by the ISBT Quality Management Working Party.

BACKGROUND AND

OBJECTIVES

Quality monitoring is a key component of the quality management system, closely related to the concept of quality improvement. The implementation of quality indicators (QIs), as a valuable quality monitoring tool, contributes to the achievement of quality objectives.

MATERIALS AND

METHODS

During 2010, discussions about the importance and use of QIs in transfusion medicine intensified, and 3 years later, the Quality Management Working Party (QM-WP) of the International Society of Blood Transfusion (ISBT) published a set of QIs for blood establishments and hospital blood banks. QIs defined by ISBT QM-WP were further developed and revised considering data obtained from an international survey on QIs, targeted consultations with members of the ISBT QM-WP and individual expert opinions.

RESULTS

Several revisions of quality indicators proposed by ISBT QM-WP have been published. The latest version from 2023 is presented in this paper and contains data on 50 QIs. Each indicator is defined, its importance is explained and the numerator and denominator required for its calculation are defined. The indicators are divided into seven groups according to areas of activity in the transfusion chain.

CONCLUSION

This paper underlines the importance of QIs and provides resources for their selection, implementation and monitoring.