Blood and Blood Products

In This Section

The Australian Commission on Safety and Quality in Health Care (ACSQHC) has developed National Safety and Quality Health Service (NSQHS) Standards. One of the ten standards Standard 7 focuses on Blood Management.

The Blood Management Standard aims to improve outcomes for patients by identifying risks and using strategies that optimise and conserve a patient's own blood, as well as ensuring that any blood and blood products that patients receive are safe and appropriate.

There are three key accreditation criteria under the National Blood Management Standard:

Clinical governance and quality improvement to support blood management.
Prescribing and clinical use of blood and blood products.
Managing the availability and safety of blood and blood products.

Further information: Standard 7 Blood Management

Safe Transfusion Practice

The transfusion of blood and blood products is not without risk and can lead to complications and adverse outcomes for patients. Blood and blood products should only be given when clearly indicated and the expected benefits to the patient are likely to outweigh the potential hazards.

The main areas that jeopardise safe transfusion are:

The blood sample for cross matching is taken from the wrong patient;
The wrong name is written on the blood sample tube;
The patient did not need the transfusion;
The bedside verification is not done correctly to ensure that the right blood product is being given to the right patient at the right time and in the correct manner.

Transfusion Practice Education for Clinicians

Western Health is fully committed to ensuring that transfusion practices are of the highest standard. It is vital that all clinical staff are aware of not only the risks and benefits of transfusion but also the responsibility that accompanies prescribing, administering and caring for patients having blood products as part of their treatment.

For this reason all nursing and midwifery staff who will be caring for patients having blood and blood products as part of their medical treatment and all Junior Medical Staff (Interns, HMOs and Registrars) who request and/or prescribe blood and blood products or provide medical care for any patient having blood or blood products as part of their treatment must successfully complete the Western Health WeLearn Blood Transfusion Practice course and assessment quiz.

Medical staff from other Health Services undertaking a rotation at Western Health

To ensure that medical staff who are undertaking a one term rotation at Western Health are familiar with requirements of Transfusion Practice at Western Health an orientation package and short assessment quiz have been developed. Completion of the Transfusion Practice Quiz is a mandatory requirement for medical staff undertaking a one term rotation at Western Health.

When you have completed the quiz please make sure you have documented your name, answered all the questions, then save the file and email to [email protected]. The pass mark required for successful completion of the mandatory quiz is 90% .If you do not achieve the required pass mark on your first attempt, you will be contacted by email and advised that you are required to repeat the quiz. Each participant may have 2 attempts at completing the quiz.