Table 2.

Analysis of blood component wastage: causes, frequency, and distribution across blood components

Causes of blood wastage	Events n (%)	RBC components				Platelet components			Plasma components				Total units
		WB	pRBC	Washed RBC	LR-RBC	Platelets	phPLT	LR-phPLT	FFP		FP	CRYO	n (%)
Excessive ordering/inappropriate patient evaluation	18 (16.2%)	0	12	2	0	27	0	0	30		4	0	75 (22.3%)
Unable to reissue before usability period	19 (17.1%)	0	11	6	0	0	0	1	26		2	10	56 (16.7%)
Blood component order errors	12 (10.8%)	0	0	0	3	0	0	0	22		0	24	49 (14.6%)
Patient death/discharge before transfusion	7 (6.3%)	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	18		2	12	32 (9.5%)
Incorrect platelet storage temperature	7 (6.3%)	0	0	0	0	24	5	0	0		0	0	29 (8.6%)
Expired blood	10 (9.0%)	8	5	0	0	0	2	2	11		0	0	28 (8.3%)
Accidental blood bag puncture	19 (17.1%)	0	14	0	3	0	5	2	0		2	0	26 (7.7%)
Excessive warming of blood components	10 (9.0%)	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	14		4	2	21 (6.3%)
Accidental blood bag breakage	5 (4.5%)	0	0	0	8	0	0	0	1		0	0	9 (2.7%)
Blood kept at room temperature for over 4 hours	1 (0.9%)	0	0	0	6	0	0	0	0		0	0	6 (1.8%)
No intravenous access	1 (0.9%)	0	2	0	0	0	0	0	0		0	0	2 (0.6%)
Partial clotting of blood	1 (0.9%)	0	0	0	2	0	0	0	0		0	0	2 (0.6%)
Incorrect transfusion procedure	1 (0.9%)	0	0	0	1	0	0	0	0		0	0	1 (0.3%)
Total	111 (100.0%)	8	45	8	23	51	12	5	51		12	5	336 (100.0%)

One unit of whole blood contains 250 mL

WB Whole blood, pRBC Packed red blood cells, LR Leukocyte-reduced, phPLT Apheresis platelets, LR-phPLT Leukocyte-reduced apheresis platelets, FFP Fresh-frozen plasma, FP Frozen plasma, CRYO Cryoprecipitate