AM20-40-Bundle: Platelet Inventory Management for Transfusion Services

Blood product inventory management is essential for improving patient care and mitigating the increasing cost of healthcare. On September 30, 2019, the US FDA published a Guidance for Industry titled “Bacterial Risk Control Strategies for Blood Collection Establishments and Transfusion Services to Enhance the Safety and Availability of Platelets for Transfusion.” This guidance offers 9 options for reducing the risk of bacterial contamination of platelets, but may decrease rather than increase platelet availability. In this setting, effective platelet inventory management (PIM) is more important than ever.

Nancy Dunbar will review evidence based platelet transfusion triggers, examine methods for prospective order auditing, and explore strategies for PIM during times of shortage.

Tho Pham will cover how to use big data and computer modeling to enhance PIM. While platelet usage can be highly variable, big data can be mined to identify relationships to build a statistical model capable of forecasting platelet demand. This analysis can be used to guide platelet ordering to decrease expiration, reduced wastage, and avoid shortages.

Neil Shah will address the role of clinical decision support (CDS) for platelet ordering to improve PIM. Aspects of implementing a successful CDS program, starting from clinical acceptance of best-practice evidence and establishing local guidelines, to building and implementing a successful CDS program will be described.