Study of Transfusion Incidents and Accidents at the Central Hospital of Yaounde

Abstract

Blood transfusion is a medical act consisting of administering blood or one of its derivatives from a donor to a recipient. In order to identify the failures and complications related to blood transfusions in our country, we conducted a study on transfusion incidents and accidents with the aim of contributing to the improvement of transfusion safety in our context. To study transfusion safety at the Central Hospital of Yaounde, we conducted a longitudinal descriptive observational study over a period of four months at the Central Hospital of Yaounde (CHY). Our study population consisted of 77 patients. We excluded from our study all non-consenting patients, those for whom we did not witness the process of delivery of their labile blood products to the blood bank, those who had already taken a first blood bag before our contact, newborns in neonatology, and those whose nursing staff would have refused to witness the process of labile blood products administration. Variables studied were sociodemographic data, transfusion history, pre-transfusion procedural errors, adverse reactions during and after transfusion. Seventy-seven (77) patients with a mean age of 37.92 ± 15.99 were divided into 4 departments where women represented 64.90% and the age group most transfused was 30 to 35 years. The absence of pre-transfusion parameters, the verification of the labile blood products at reception (60.8%), and the final control at the patient's bed (58.8%) were not effective. Minor allergic reactions (46.2%), non-hemolytic febrile reactions (43.6%) and major allergic reactions (7.7%) were the main transfusion complications. Blood transfusion, a source of human solidarity, obeys certain standards which practitioners must improve over time. It is imperative to set up a system of continuous training for blood transfusion personnel, and to set up anonymous transfusion incident and accident reporting forms in each department.