Implementation and validation of a conceptual benchmarking framework for patient blood management.

Background: Public health authorities and healthcare professionals are obliged to ensure high quality health service. Because of the high variability of the utilisation of blood and blood components, benchmarking is indicated in transfusion medicine.

Objectives: Implementation and validation of a benchmarking framework for Patient Blood Management (PBM) based on the report from the second Austrian Benchmark trial.

Methods: Core modules for automatic report generation have been implemented with KNIME (Konstanz Information Miner) and validated by comparing the output with the results of the second Austrian benchmark trial.

Results: Delta analysis shows a deviation <0.1% for 95% (max. 1.4%).

Conclusion: The framework provides a reliable tool for PBM benchmarking. The next step is technical integration with hospital information systems.