Prospective analysis of errors in requesting blood products and the effect of training on intern practice

Introduction: The collection of an appropriately labelled specimen from the correct patient is of critical importance in pre-transfusion testing. The 'Transitioning Programme for Final Meds' (TP5MB) is a 3 week education programme introduced in UCHG in 2012 designed to rapidly up-skill the graduates in medical practices. Aim: The aim of our study was to prospectively assess the errors in blood product prescribing in UCHG by all doctors in Jul-Oct 2012. We assessed the effect of TP5MB training programme by comparing results of those who completed it, to those who did not. Methods: We prospectively analysed all blood product samples completed by doctors from UCHG from 9/7/12-9/10/12. Details of rejected specimens and reasons for rejection were compiled, with analysis performed using SPSSv18. Results: 5217 blood product requests were analysed showing 323 rejected samples. TP5MB had a lower error rate (4.3 %; 43/999) compared to those who did not complete TP5MB (10.5 %; 77/732). The error rate during on-call hours was higher than that of regular working hours (6.2 % vs. 8.1 %). Overall the rate of intern rejected samples was higher than that of non-intern NCHD's (7.11 % vs. 6.51 %). Weekly analysis of errors showed a trend of decreased error rate as job experience increased. Conclusion: TP5MB rapidly up-skills medical graduates. It makes students medically adaptable and leads to safer intern practice. TP5MB should be incorporated into medical training in other universities prior to commencing internship.