Computer-generated Automatic Alerts of Respiratory Distress after Blood Transfusion
- aCollege of Medicine, University of Cincinnati, Cincinnati, OH
- bSchool of Pharmacy, University of California San Francisco, San Francisco, CA
- cDepartment of Laboratory Medicine, School of Medicine, University of California San Francisco, San Francisco, CA
- Correspondence: Pearl Toy, MD, Department of Laboratory Medicine, School of Medicine, Box 0100, University of California San Francisco, San Francisco, CA 94143-0100 (e-mail: <pearl.toy{at}ucsf.edu>)
- Received 2 June 2007
- Accepted 16 January 2008
Abstract
Transfusion-related acute lung injury (TRALI), the leading cause of transfusion-related death, is underreported by clinicians. For TRALI research, a clinician-independent, computerized system has been developed to detect patients with acute respiratory distress posttransfusion. A computer system generates an alert when a blood gas result indicated a PaO2:FiO2 ratio below 300, within twelve hours of blood issued from the blood bank for a patient. The system was prospectively compared to conventional daily rounds in intensive care units (ICUs). We found that ICU rounds detected 9 of 14 patients (64%), while the computer system detected 13 of 14 patients (93%), p = 0.125. ICU rounds took two to three hours per day, while the computer system took one to one and one-half hours per day of investigator time. In conclusion, an automatic computer alert system was more efficient, and was as effective as conventional daily ICU rounds, in detecting patients with posttransfusion acute respiratory distress.
Footnotes
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Supported in part by Public Health Service grant P50 HL054476 from the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute, National Institutes of Health.
