A structured approach to analyse logistics risks in the blood transfusion process

Abstract

Blood transfusion is a critical health care process due to the nature of the products handled and the complexity driven by the strong interdependence among the sub‐processes involved. Most of the errors causing adverse events originate during the blood logistics activities. Several literature contributions apply risk management to the transfusion process but often in a fragmented and reactive way. Moreover, few of them focus on logistics risks and assess the effectiveness of risk responses through operational key performance indicators (KPIs). The present paper applies a comprehensive and structured approach to proactively identify and analyse logistics risks as well as define responses to improve blood bag traceability, focusing on hospital wards. The implementation of such actions is monitored by specific KPIs whose measurement enables an improved communication flow among actors allowing to uncover residual risks. Future research will extend the application to further blood transfusion settings and supply chain echelons. The outcomes of this work might assist practitioners in improving policy making about blood supply chains. As a matter of fact, they allow a better understanding of the associated material and informational flows and the related risks, which supports setting effective strategies to either prevent adverse events or mitigate their effects.

Risk Assessment in Medical Microbiology Laboratory, Blood Transfusion Center and Central Sterilization Unit

“…Cagliano ve ark. (13) yaptıkları çalışmada kan transfüzyonunu, işlenen ürünlerin doğası ve ilgili alt süreçler arasındaki güçlü karşılıklı bağımlılıktan kaynaklanan karmaşıklık nedeniyle kritik bir sağlık bakım süreci olarak tanımlamışlardır. Chadrashekar ve ark.…”

Classifying healthcare warehouses according to their performance. A Cluster Analysis-based approach

“…Cluster Analysis has been selected as it constitutes an objective method to determine which warehouses share a similar performance level and which do not, based on numerical computations and not just on subjective judgments, which might introduce bias in the assessment. It is a valuable characteristic in healthcare logistics management where many strategies are defined based on the personal perceptions and experience of the decision-makers involved (Cagliano et al , 2021). Moreover, this empirical approach is designed to handle a relevant quantity of observations, and thus address many warehouses, making the proposed method suitable for supporting large-scale analyses at regional levels or, in general, in homogenous geographical areas.…”

Assessment of Collaboration-Based and Non-Collaboration-Based Logistics Risks with Plithogenic SWARA Method

“…These risks have been modelled by using mixed integer linear programming. Cagliano et al [22] studied risks in a special logistics area: blood transfusion. Wang and Regan [23] handled third party logistics (3PL) risks and discussed the measures of risk prevention.…”