National
CDC to Monitor Reactions and Errors Associated with Blood Transfusions
By
Feb 18, 2010 - 9:49:27 AM

(HealthNewsDigest.com) - The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has launched the first national surveillance system to monitor adverse events in patients who receive blood transfusions. CDC is encouraging healthcare facilities
across the country to enroll in this new surveillance system, which was designed to improve patient safety.

By having a coordinated national network, CDC can summarize national
data to understand better how to prevent adverse transfusion events such
as reactions to blood products, medical errors, and process problems.
The system, called the Hemovigilance Module, is part of CDC's National
Healthcare Safety Network (NHSN). NHSN is an Internet-based surveillance
system that allows healthcare-associated infection data to be tracked
and analyzed to allow CDC and healthcare facilities to maximize
prevention efforts. The Hemovigilance Module was developed by CDC in
collaboration with AABB, an international association representing
organizations involved in transfusion and cellular therapies.

"This is an important advance in monitoring the safety of transfusions
for patients nationwide," said Matthew J. Kuehnert, M.D., director of
the CDC's Office of Blood, Organ, and Other Tissue Safety. "This system
will enable healthcare facilities to better recognize blood
transfusion-related adverse events so that they can improve the care of
patients who have transfusions."

Hospitals will submit data confidentially to CDC through the
Hemovigilance Module. CDC will review the national data in collaboration
with AABB and other partners to help identify ways to improve the safety
of blood transfusion. Previously, transfusion-related events were
monitored by facilities on their own. Now, hospitals that join the
Hemovigilance Module will have access to standardized data analysis
tools, as well as an opportunity to see how their data compare to other
hospitals throughout the United States.

"Healthcare facilities that join the Hemovigilance Module will now have
a yardstick by which to measure their current safety initiatives and
their future efforts," said Dan Pollock, MD, chief of the branch that
leads CDC's NHSN. "Through this system, healthcare facilities can also
see how their performance stacks up to similar facilities nationwide,
with a goal of designing the best processes to protect patients' health
and reduce healthcare costs."

CDC provides the module at no cost to hospitals and healthcare
facilities. The agency also provides participating facilities with
training and ongoing user support at no cost to the facilities.

For more information, please visit www.cdc.gov/nhsn/.

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