Quality Improvement Process
To compare the effect that the new ProMed cooler and the original Performance cooler had on blood product wastage, data on total pRBC units issued and transfused and total pRBC wasted were compared: 1) from May 1, 2019 to November 15, 2019 (before the implementation of the revised cooler) and 2) November 16, 2019 to January 31, 2021 (after implementation of the revised cooler). Outcome and logistical metrics for each recovery were also recorded. While no temperature log data was available for the Performance cooler, detailed temperature log data were collected every six minutes for the ProMed coolers due to the long duration of validation (Figure 4).
The primary outcomes were total units of pRBCs issued or wasted and cost analysis of blood product waste. Estimation of total institutional acquisition costs for a single unit of pRBCs ($200) was used for cost analysis.