Altered color of plasma component - Unnecessary wastage of a precious resource.

Background And Objectives: The present study was conducted to evaluate the etiology of altered color of plasma component of blood in transfusion practice.

Materials And Methods: The study was conducted at the blood center of a tertiary care teaching hospital in western India for a period of 6 months. After component separation, all the plasma units with altered color were segregated and samples were taken for further evaluation.

Therapeutic plasma exchange in pediatric patients of Guillain-Barre syndrome: Experience from a Tertiary Care Centre.

Background And Objective: Therapeutic Plasma Exchange (TPE) is performed effectively and safely in adult patients, but the use of TPE is limited in paediatric patients due to lack of universally accepted indications and technical challenges like establishment of adequate vascular access, low blood volume, increased incidence of adverse events during procedure and poor co-operation of patients during procedure. We present our experience of TPE in paediatric patients to assess the effectiveness and safety of TPE in paediatric patients.

Materials And Methods: A total 122 TPE procedures were performed in 40 paediatric patients between 3 to 15 years of age group with Guillain Barre Syndrome (GBS).

Performance indicators: A tool for continuous quality improvement.

Background: Performance monitoring is an important tool which can be used for setting priorities for process improvement. At our centre, we have been monitoring every step in the processes, right from inventory of consumables (both critical and routine) to number of donors reactive for TTI. We conducted a study to measure the impact of monitoring Performance Indicators and how it could be used as a tool for Continuous Quality Improvement (CQI).