Managing blood supply in hospitals

The problem

Blood type substitution – which sees patients receive blood from a different but compatible blood type during a transfusion – is an effective way to improve blood supply chain resilience when there are shortages at hospitals. Since blood shortages endanger lives, it is imperative that blood is always available. However, while substitution helps manage volatility in supply and demand, deciding whether to use a compatible blood unit on-hand or to place an urgent order is a challenge, leading to waste and/or impeding access to the right blood for a patient in an emergency. In Australia, how these decisions are made is causing significant imbalance in the use and availability of O-negative blood units, because of its compatibility and existing substitution policies. For blood inventory management and the effective use of this scarce blood resource, it is critical to overcome this.

The research

Researchers are using state-of-the-art methodologies in data-driven decision-making to develop a model that helps hospitals decide how much blood should be stocked and when to use a substitute or order emergency units. The model takes into account historical demand data, type and age of blood units in the inventory, and the shelf-life variability of the units arriving at hospitals. Comparing the model’s results with several policies currently used to make these decisions, they find the proposed model is most effective at reducing an imbalance in supply and demand of O- negative blood.

The impact

The research has significant potential for improving the management of blood units and patient outcomes. By helping hospitals make decisions around blood type substitution, practitioners can benefit from it while avoiding over-ordering O-negative units. As blood products are perishable, wastage (including donors’ time and effort) is reduced.  And, importantly, a more stable inventory ensures patients receive what blood they need and when – especially critical in emergency situations

Department: Management and Marketing 
Area: blood inventory management, hospital management