Minutes of the FY2026 First Proper Use Investigation Meeting
Overview
The Proper Use Investigation Meeting held on July 29, 2026 elected committee member Shuichi Ito as chair and discussed the survey of blood product use, the prefectural research project on proper-use measures, and the abolition of the Guidelines for the Use of Blood Products, the Guidelines for the Implementation of Transfusion Therapy, and the Blood Product Storage and Management Manual. The survey reported on awareness of the guidelines, red blood cell discard rates, and the status of transfusions at small clinics and in home-care settings. Initiatives in Akita, Ibaraki, Niigata, and Kagoshima addressed supply during disasters, inventory sharing, safety management at home and small facilities, and measures to reduce discards. The former guidelines and related materials were abolished on March 24, 2026, and the dissemination and awareness-raising of the Transfusion Therapy Practice Guide, which organizes and integrates their contents, was presented.
Key points
- Committee member Shuichi Ito was elected chair.
- A downward trend in red blood cell discard rates was confirmed at facilities where the guidelines were widely known.
- The expansion of home transfusions and challenges in safety management at small clinics were reported.
- The former guidelines and related materials were abolished, and their contents were organized and integrated into the Transfusion Therapy Practice Guide.
Overview
This meeting covered survey results concerning the proper use of blood products and initiatives by prefectural joint transfusion therapy committees. The agenda comprised election of the chair, a survey of actual use, a research project on proper-use measures, abolition of related guidelines and other materials, and other matters.
The survey of actual use analyzed quantities used over the past 5 years at 1,021 hospitals with 200 beds or more in fiscal 2024, and also surveyed clinics with under 20 beds from fiscal 2020 through fiscal 2024.
Impact
The survey reported that, while the quantities of red blood cells and platelets used at clinics without inpatient beds and the number of facilities conducting out-of-hospital transfusions were increasing, no major improvements were observed in safety management systems such as testing capacity, blood product storage, and maintenance of manuals.
A policy was presented to promote dissemination and awareness-raising of the Transfusion Therapy Practice Guide, which integrates the contents of the former guidelines and related materials after their abolition.
Details
Facilities where the guidelines were widely known tended to have more active transfusion care and be larger hospitals; after adjusting for background factors, they showed a tendency toward lower red blood cell discard rates. No clear effect of guideline awareness was confirmed for platelets, FFP, or albumin.
In Ibaraki Prefecture, a survey of 261 facilities received responses from 81 facilities, or 31%; one third of clinics without inpatient beds had no manuals in place, and storage in household refrigerators was also confirmed. In Akita Prefecture, transport and inventory information sharing using ATR and EMIS was advanced.
Niigata Prefecture analyzed small and medium-sized medical institutions that had successfully reduced discards and identified inventory volume and expiration-date tracking, usage recommendations, order confirmation, information sharing, and evaluation of appropriate inventory levels as common factors. Kagoshima Prefecture surveyed 17 facilities, with a response rate of 100%.