Background/Case Studies: Apheresis blood collection technology provides the ability to collect two Red Blood Cell (2RBC) products from a single donation event. Performance metrics are established to monitor staff success in converting specific donors from Whole Blood (WB) to 2RBC procedures. Interactive electronic reports have been utilized to track 2RBC conversion rates (CR) against targeted goals. Historically, the CR was based on the number of 2RBC / (WB + 2RBC) procedures; however, it did not take into account the donors that were not eligible for a 2RBC procedure.
Study
Design/Methods: Based on the apheresis technology used for mobile collections, a new CR report (CRR) was developed using the number of donors that meet eligibility and company-defined requirements for a 2RBC as the denominator. The parameters are ABO/Rh type (O+, O-, A-, B-), minimum height (males 61”; females 65”), minimum weight (males 130 lbs; females 150 lbs), and hemoglobin (≥13.3 g/dL; < 20.0 g/dL). The CRR allows management to monitor performance at a macro-level of the entire enterprise down to the micro-level of a particular blood drive or staff member.
Results/Findings: For 2022, the 2RBC CR using all donors was 20.9% (2,323/11,130) vs 37.8% (2,323/6,146) for qualified donors (Table 1). As expected, using the number of donors that were eligible for a 2RBC collection as the CR denominator resulted in a higher percentage; however, the data provides a true assessment of 2RBC conversion opportunities and goal development. Overall, in 2022, 55% (6,146/11,130) of donors presenting at mobile collection sites met 2RBC eligibility requirements. In July 2022, a companywide recruitment marketing campaign was launched to promote the need for 2RBC collections to donors. The enhanced CRR provided a gauge to evaluate the effectiveness of the campaign as well as staff performance. As shown in Table 1, despite a decrease in the number of qualified donors presenting, the qualified 2RBC CR increased to 47.4% (July) for this center after this campaign. Conclusions: The qualified 2RBC CRR serves as a reliable tool for tracking and evaluating the conversion of eligible donors and allows for fair assessment of individual staff performance, fostering accountability and enhancing morale. The CRR can be used to gauge the effectiveness of marketing strategies and donor recruitment initiatives. Enhancements to the CRR, such as the ability to filter conversion rates by sex and parameters of additional apheresis technology, are expected to be useful in guiding recruitment strategies and optimizing the use of available apheresis equipment.
Importance of research: This study illustrates the advantage of using data-driven metrics to establish blood collection strategies and evaluate the performance of staff. It provides a tool to evaluate the effectiveness of process improvement and donor recruitment efforts. Ongoing enhancements to the reporting tool will allow for a comprehensive assessment between various apheresis technologies available for 2RBC collections and staff performance at both mobile and fixed-site collection locations.
