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Background: Norway has no overview of the number of patients who are transfused, their age and gender distribution or reasons for transfusion. We wished to investigate which patient groups received blood at Sørlandet Hospital in 2010-2011, and to test a method of electronic data linkage from treatment systems, with a view to further monitoring of blood consumption., Material and Method: Data from all patients treated in somatic departments at Sørlandet Hospital in the period from 1 January 2010 to 31 December 2011 were linked to data from the blood bank with the aid of the system 'Forskning i sykehus'. SPSS version 23.0 was used for the statistical analyses., Results: A total of 19 108 red blood cells and platelet concentrates were transfused to 3 967 patients, with the same number of units for both genders. Patients older than 60 years accounted for 79 % of the total blood consumption. Patients in the main diagnostic group neoplasms had the most transfusion episodes, followed by the diagnostic groups injuries, diseases of the digestive system and diseases of the blood. In cases of primary and secondary hip prostheses, 33.8 % and 65.6 % of the patients received blood, respectively. For caesarean section the figure was 8.9 %., Interpretation: Our data are comparable to data from other countries. The method is suitable for assessing and monitoring transfusion practice. It could also be used by other health trusts and to collect national data after all blood components and parameters such as haemoglobin, blood group and transfusion complications are included.

Background: In 2007, previous syphilis infection was diagnosed in a blood donor who had given blood regularly for 15 years. This was discovered when the donor was tested for syphilis, as a new donor in another blood bank. The time of infection is unknown. An expert group, set up by The Norwegian Directorate of Health, was commissioned to evaluate the risk of syphilis transmission through blood products in Norway., Material and Methods: The expert group based its evaluation on the epidemiology of syphilis, risk of infection and properties of the syphilis bacterium, especially in relation to blood donation. Specific information about the actual incident, made available by the Norwegian Directorate of Health, was also evaluated., Results: Of 54 blood recipients 21 were alive and 18 (86 %) were tested for syphilis, all with a negative result. For 11 deceased the hospital records were studied without discovering signs of syphilis infection., Interpretation: The risk of transfusion-transmitted syphilis is low for several reasons: The prevalence of syphilis in the population is low, a compulsory interview and completion of a questionnaire before donation in Norway excludes patients who are ill or at risk of being infected; the proportion of fresh blood donations is very low and syphilis bacteria die quickly during normal storage conditions for blood. An incidental infection is symptomatic and easily treated by antibiotics. The expert group recommends to not start syphilis testing of each blood donor but to continue the present routine testing of new donors.

Background: A pilot study was conducted in order to highlight the possibly unnecessary requisitioning of biochemical analyses in a Norwegian hospital., Material and Methods: The following parameters from consecutive patients and focusing repeated testing were included in the study: i) serum protein electrophoresis (30 patients), ii) thyroid function tests in serum (43 patients), iii) prothrombin time test (PT-INR) (30 patients), iv) haemoglobin (30 patients) and v) an analysis package of 13 single tests designed for the primary investigation of "acute abdomen" (30 patients). Criteria for correct and incorrect requisitioning were defined., Results: 69% of the acute abdomen test package requisitions were incorrect, although single tests within the package may have been justified. 17% of PT-INR and 15% of haemoglobin tests were superfluous, while nearly all serum protein electrophoresis and thyroid analyses were not unnecessarily repeated., Interpretation: The study demonstrated a clear possibility for reducing financial as well as labour costs by correct requisitioning of biochemical analyses, without loss to the quality of diagnostic service and treatment.