Preprint Article Version 1 Preserved in Portico This version is not peer-reviewed

Blood Sampling Protocol Changes to Reduce the Sampling Amount in Neonatal Intensive Care Unit: A Quality Improvement Project

Nayoung Jung
ORCID logo ,
Chan Kim
,
Hanna Kim
,
Jieun Hwang
,
Misun Yang
ORCID logo ,
So Yoon Ahn
ORCID logo ,
Se In Sung
* ORCID logo ,
Yun Sil Chang
Version 1 : Received: 6 July 2023 / Approved: 6 July 2023 / Online: 7 July 2023 (03:34:38 CEST)

A peer-reviewed article of this Preprint also exists.

Jung, N.; Kim, C.; Kim, H.; Seo, Y.; Hwang, J.; Yang, M.; Ahn, S.Y.; Sung, S.I.; Chang, Y.S. Changes to Blood-Sampling Protocol to Reduce the Sampling Amount in Neonatal Intensive Care Units: A Quality Improvement Project. Journal of Clinical Medicine 2023, 12, 5712, doi:10.3390/jcm12175712. Jung, N.; Kim, C.; Kim, H.; Seo, Y.; Hwang, J.; Yang, M.; Ahn, S.Y.; Sung, S.I.; Chang, Y.S. Changes to Blood-Sampling Protocol to Reduce the Sampling Amount in Neonatal Intensive Care Units: A Quality Improvement Project. Journal of Clinical Medicine 2023, 12, 5712, doi:10.3390/jcm12175712.

Abstract

(1) Background: This study aimed to evaluate whether the implementation of a modified blood sampling protocol, which focused on need-based laboratory testing and minimized venous sampling by replacing it with point-of-care testing (POCT) via capillary puncture, successfully reduced iatrogenic blood loss, incidence of anemia, and frequency of blood transfusion in extremely low birth weight infants (ELBWIs) without negatively affecting neonatal outcomes. (2) Methods: A retrospective analysis was conducted on 313 ELBWIs of gestational age (GA) between 23 and 28 weeks, born between 2013 and 2019. The infants were divided into two groups: before (period I) and after (period II) the implementation of the modified blood sampling protocol in January 2016. Propensity score matching was conducted to minimize selection bias. Clinical data, including the frequency and amount of blood sampling, frequency and volume of blood transfusion, and clinical characteristics, such as gestational age, birth weight, and neonatal outcome data, were collected and compared between the two groups. (3) Results: No significant differences in the GA or birth weight between the two periods were observed. The total sampling volume during a month after birth (16.7 ± 4.1 mL vs. 15.6 ± 4.4 mL, P=0.03) and total sampling volume during hospital days (51.4 ± 29.7 mL vs. 44.3 ± 27.5 mL, P=0.04) in period II were significantly lower than that in period I. There were no differences in the mortality or morbidity between the two periods. Although the transfusion frequency and amount did not have significant differences between the periods, we observed a positive correlation between the transfusion frequency and sampling volume (coefficient: 0.09, 95% CI: 0.08–0.11). (4) Conclusions: The modified blood sampling protocol effectively reduced the iatrogenic blood loss without negatively affecting the neonatal outcomes.

Keywords

extremely low birth weight infants; blood sampling; blood transfusion

Subject

Medicine and Pharmacology, Clinical Medicine

Copyright: This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Download PDF

Comments (0)

We encourage comments and feedback from a broad range of readers. See criteria for comments and our Diversity statement.

Leave a public comment
Send a private comment to the author(s)
* All users must log in before leaving a comment
Views 0
Downloads 0
Comments 0
Metrics 0
Get PDF Cite Share 0
Bookmark BibSonomy Mendeley Reddit Delicious
×
Alerts
Notify me about updates to this article or when a peer-reviewed version is published.
We use cookies on our website to ensure you get the best experience.
Read more about our cookies here.