In an effort to reduce blood donor exposure rates in NICU patients we recently adopted a dedicated packed red blood cell (PRBC) unit transfusion policy. Infants thought to be at high risk for repeated PRBC transfusions were identified upon admission and assigned a fresh PRBC unit. New units were assigned after the initial ones expired (28 days). Transfusion guidelines were not changed. Methods: To determine the effectiveness of this change in practice in reducing donor exposure in our NICU population we conducted a retrospective data review of the transfusion records from infants admitted preceding the policy change (3/96-9/96) and compared them to records from infants admitted after the change (3/97-9/97). Within the specific time periods the infants were further separated by birthweight (<1000gm and>1000gms). There were no differences in gestational age or birthweight between the time period groups. Statistical comparisons were done using non-paired student's t-test. Data are reported as Mean±SEM.*=p<0.05. Results: The mean number of transfusions was the same for both time periods (4.03±1.0 vs 4.18±0.9). Donor exposure was reduced for both weight groups (see Table below).Conclusion: Dedicated PRBC units significantly reduce donor exposure in a high risk neonatal population. The trend of increasing number of transfusions may be the result of “using” the unit before it expires. Increasing the life span of the PRBC units (28 to 35-42 days) may further reduce donor exposure.

Table 1 No caption available.
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