Data and Metrics for Patient Blood Management: A Narrative Review and Practical Guide

Data collection, analysis, and reporting are fundamental for a successful hospital-based patient blood management program; however, very little has been published on the topic. Our aim was to synthesize evidence from a literature review to provide a detailed, practical list of outcome metrics, and the required data collection(s) to inform implementation. Ovid MEDLINE and PubMed were searched for any full-text original research articles published from inception to the year 2020. We included any studies reporting the implementation of interventions or programs study authors defined as "patient blood management" and extracted information on data collected and metrics reported. We included 45 studies describing the implementation of a patient blood management program and/or strategies. The outcomes reported by these studies were grouped into 1 of 36 metrics. We compiled a list of 65 relevant data elements to collect, and their potential source hospital information systems: patient administration, laboratory, transfusion/blood bank, operating room, pharmacy, emergency department, and intensive care unit. We further categorized patient blood management data systems into basic, intermediate, and advanced based on the combination of different information systems sourced. The results of this review can be used to inform patient blood management programs in planning what data collection(s) are needed, where these data can be sourced from, and how they can be analyzed.