The ordering of blood for elective general surgical operations.

The current practice in ordering blood for common elective general surgical operations in the Prince of Wales Hospital has been studied. The numbers of patients having serum grouped and held and those having cross-matched were determined, together with the number of units cross-matched. The percentage of patients transfused and the number of units of blood given were then assessed for each procedure. The results demonstrated that blood was often ordered for patients who were most unlikely to require it. In addition, the amounts of blood ordered were frequently excessive, so that the cross-match-to-transfusion ratio (C/T ratio) for some procedures was high. We suggest that relatively simple changes in the current practice of ordering blood for operations should result in savings in costs, and most importantly, in a reduction in the wastage of blood.