Valeria Caramello1, Odetta Camerini2, Fulvio Ricceri3,4, Piero Ottone2, Gennaro Mascaro5, Rosa Chianese6, Moran Bodas7, Joost Bierens8, Francesco Della Corte7. 1. Emergency Department, San Luigi Gonzaga University Hospital, Turin, Italy. 2. Transfusion Medicine and Immunoemathology Service, San Luigi Gonzaga University Hospital, Turin, Italy. 3. Department of Biological and Clinical Sciences, University of Turin, Turin, Italy. 4. Unit of Epidemiology, Regional Health Service ASL TO3, Turin, Italy. 5. Transfusion Medicine and Immunoemathology Service, Maggiore della Carità University Hospital, Novara, Italy. 6. Piedmont Regional Coordination Center of Transfusion Medicine Network, Transfusion Medicine and Immunoemathology Service ASL TO4, Turin, Italy. 7. CRIMEDIM - Research Center in Emergency and Disaster Medicine, UPO - Università del Piemonte Orientale, Novara, Italy. 8. Research Group Emergency and Disaster Medicine, Faculty of Medicine & Pharmacy, Vrije Universiteit Brussels, Brussels, Belgium.
Abstract
BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Blood is a critical resource for responding to mass casualty incidents (MCI). The main framework for transfusion preparedness is the American Association of Blood Bank (AABB) Disaster Operation Handbook. A disaster preparedness plan for co-ordinated blood supply was issued in Italy in 2016. AIM: To assess the level of preparedness of the Transfusion Centers (TS) in the Piedmont region, to evaluate the applicability of AABB checklist and to evaluate the application of the Italian plan. MATERIALS AND METHODS: We surveyed all the Regional Transfusion Centers (TS) using the AABB checklist, addressing 74 priority action items grouped according to 16 preparedness domains. The Italian 2016 plan has been considered the regulatory cut-off and hospitals were stratified based on the type and the TS workload. A principal component analysis (PCA) was conducted to summarize the variance among centres. RESULTS: Twenty-one out of 25 TS agreed to participate. Eighty-one % were at high and 18% were at medium level of preparedness. All but two centres were above the cut-off determined by the Italian law. A significant better preparedness was found in medium size hospitals compared to bigger and smaller hospitals. Other than that, the different TS showed a quite homogeneous distribution of preparedness variance. CONCLUSIONS: This study demonstrated a good level of preparedness in the Piemonte TS, above the Italian law requirements in the majority of TS. The AABB checklist could be used to highlight gaps and needs in the regional TS networks in case of emergency crisis.
BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Blood is a critical resource for responding to mass casualty incidents (MCI). The main framework for transfusion preparedness is the American Association of Blood Bank (AABB) Disaster Operation Handbook. A disaster preparedness plan for co-ordinated blood supply was issued in Italy in 2016. AIM: To assess the level of preparedness of the Transfusion Centers (TS) in the Piedmont region, to evaluate the applicability of AABB checklist and to evaluate the application of the Italian plan. MATERIALS AND METHODS: We surveyed all the Regional Transfusion Centers (TS) using the AABB checklist, addressing 74 priority action items grouped according to 16 preparedness domains. The Italian 2016 plan has been considered the regulatory cut-off and hospitals were stratified based on the type and the TS workload. A principal component analysis (PCA) was conducted to summarize the variance among centres. RESULTS: Twenty-one out of 25 TS agreed to participate. Eighty-one % were at high and 18% were at medium level of preparedness. All but two centres were above the cut-off determined by the Italian law. A significant better preparedness was found in medium size hospitals compared to bigger and smaller hospitals. Other than that, the different TS showed a quite homogeneous distribution of preparedness variance. CONCLUSIONS: This study demonstrated a good level of preparedness in the Piemonte TS, above the Italian law requirements in the majority of TS. The AABB checklist could be used to highlight gaps and needs in the regional TS networks in case of emergency crisis.