Role of blood bag temperature indicators in maintaining patent temperature of the returned unused blood bags in blood bank

Background and Aims: The main objective of the present study was to evaluate the temperature chain of red blood cells (RBC) returned unused blood bags using blood temperature indicator and ascertain the factors like transportation time, type, size of coolant box and number of bags per box. Materials and Methods: A total of 250 blood bags with the indicator were observed for the temperature changes with other factors like transportation time, type and size of coolant box and number of bags per box. The recordings were performed at several checkpoints located between the blood bank and the wards. Results: Out of the 250 bags, 74 (29.6%) showed colour changes in which 64 (86.3%) were returned unused (RU) blood bags. The transportation time for these 74 bags was 818.3 ± 941.643 min, significantly higher than bags without colour changes, (p=0.02). Interestingly, 71.4% of the colour changes occurred within the ward. The 7 litre coolant box with an average of 1-5 blood bags per box had a statistically significant higher percentage of colour change with 59.2% compared to the 5 litre coolant box (p=0.05). Conclusion: This study showed that the temperature chain of blood bags was often not well maintained. These results could be mainly due to the non-adherence to the standard operating procedure (SOP) of blood transfusion and the usage of non-standardized coolant boxes.