An audit of fresh frozen plasma usage in an acute general hospital in Singapore.

BACKGROUND

FFP is often inappropriately used despite existence of guidelines. An audit was conducted with the aim of making recommendations to reduce inappropriate use.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

A retrospective review of blood bank and electronic medical records of patients given FFP from October to December 2001 in an acute general hospital was undertaken. The criteria set by the College of American Pathologists in 1994 were used as the standards.

RESULTS

Nine hundred and thirty-two units of FFP were used during the study period for 359 transfusion episodes. Only 98 (27%) episodes were deemed appropriate. Percentage of inappropriate requests was similar across specialties. FFP used in the setting of inadequately prolonged coagulation profiles or absence of bleeding or surgical intervention was the commonest reasons for inappropriate use.

CONCLUSIONS

Our results showed significant proportion of FFP used outside of established international criteria. There may be many reasons for this and we suggest that a continual system of staff education and administrative intervention may help to reduce the inappropriate usage.