Transfusion Outcomes Research Collaborative (TORC)

Project Coordinator: Jessica Oddy

Investigators: Professor John McNeil, Professor Peter Cameron, Dr Louise Phillips, Dr Merrole Cole-Sinclair, Dr Erica Wood

Background: The Transfusion Outcomes Research Collaborative is a partnership between the Australian Red Cross Blood Service and Monash University's Department of Epidemiology and Preventive Medicine. This is a key component of the ARCBS commitment to clinical research.

Aims: The aim of the partnership is to explore blood component usage and patient outcomes following transfusion in Australia, and so enhance the quality of transfusion practice and help improve patient care.

Method: The partnership's research will focus on four major areas regarding transfusion practice and outcomes. 1. Expression of nationally consistent guidelines for collection of transfusion related data. 2. Exploration of existing clinical registries and data sources. 3. Extraction of novel data through linkages between existing, but separate, data sources. 4. Establishment of new clinical registries for important blood disorders where data sources do not exist

Results: Time to Transfusion study (designed to validate the use of laboratory information system (LIS) data for the purpose of the study) has been completed and the manuscript is currently being prepared for publication. The data linkage project has ethics approval at all six Victorian hospitals as well as Monash University and the Blood Service (to link with the Blood Service database for donation information). LIS data extraction for the ASCTS and VSTORM patients for 2008 has commenced at 5 of the 6 hospitals. The creation of a new database for each of the ASCTS and VSTORM combined datasets has commenced at DEPM to enable the data linkage and data analysis. The process of extracting data from the Blood Service information system on the donation numbers has also commenced.
The ANZICS-Adult Patient Database (APD) does not currently record patient identifiers to allow data linkage with the central database. Therefore, contact has commenced with each hospital site to obtain the patient identifiers to allow data linkage to progress Analysis of ASCTS and VSTORM data will commence once all data is received.

Status: Ongoing

Staff: Louise Phillips, Amanda Zatta, Naomi Oaki, Rosemary McInnes, Jessica Oddy, Rosalie Clementson

Publications:  In preparation

Student: Zoe McQuilten

Contact Person: Louise Phillips - louise.phillips@ monash.edu

http://www.torc.org.au/