An Examination of Blood Center Structure and Hospital Customer Satisfaction

Abstract

The cost of blood and blood products has increased rapidly over the last several years while the supply of available blood donors has simultaneously decreased. Higher blood costs and donor shortages have put a strain on the relationship between blood suppliers and their hospital customers. This study examines the association between blood center centralization or decentralization and several aspects of hospital satisfaction. Centralized and decentralized blood centers have significant differences in various aspects of hospital customer satisfaction. Advantages and disadvantages of the two structures are discussed, as well as areas for future research.

Blood Supply Chain Management and Future Research Opportunities

“…Other than these inventory models, several authors study (1) the regionalization and organization of the blood banking supply chain to manage collection and distribution decisions efficiently (Carden and DelliFraine 2005;Cerveny 1980;Cohen and Pierskalla 1975;Graf et al 1972;Jacobs et al 1996;Or and Pierskalla 1979;Price and Turcotte 1986;Sahin et al 2007), (2) motivations to donate and factors affecting donor behaviors and donation patterns such as donor age (Ownby et al 1999), previous donation pattern (Flegel et al 2000;James and Matthews 1996;Ownby et al 1999;Yu et al 2007), previous short-time temporary deferrals (Halperin et al 1998;Piliavin 1987), physiological reactions (France et al 2004), education level (Flegel et al 2000;Schreiber et al 2005), race and ethnicity (Schreiber et al 2006) using statistical methods, (3) forecasting models to forecast demand and supply (Cohen et al 1981;Cumming et al 1976;Elston and Pickrel 1963;Frankfurter et al 1974;Katsaliaki 2008;Pereira 2004), (4) scheduling mobile blood drives to alleviate the seasonal imbalances between the supply and demand (Cumming et al 1976;Ghandforoush and Sen 2010;Pegels et al 1975), and (5) the effect of extending the shelf life of whole blood and red blood cells by freezing (Cumming et al 1977;Hess 2004;Kahn et al 1978;Pegels et al 1977) and using adenine (Brodheim and Hirsch 1979;Cohen et al 1983) to balance supply and demand.…”