BeQuinT

Welcome to the BeQuinT homepage!
This is an initiative of the Belgian health authority: Federal Public Service of Public Health

About BeQuinT

BeQuinT was created in 2011. 
Mission: in the Belgian hospitals:

• the improvement of the quality of transfusion practice and haemovigilance
• ​the improvement of the consumption of blood components,
• the implementation of Patient Blood Management and the measurement of results based on indicators.

Composition: Representatives of various types of health professionals from the different disciplines, communities and (professional) organisations.
Chair: Prof. Dr. S. Lessire (sarah.lessire@chuuclnamur.uclouvain.be).
Project coordinator: Ms. J. Vanden Broeck (jana.vandenbroeck@health.fgov.be).
 

National surveys

National survey on the quality of hospital transfusion practice

Background: In 2011, no data were available about the quality of hospital transfusion practice at the national level.
Materials and methods: Three consecutive national surveys (2012, 2014 and 2016) were performed in all 111 Belgian hospitals to assess the degree of implementation of standards in four process domains related to red blood cell (RBC) transfusion: general
quality aspects, ordering of RBC, electronic traceability and reporting of adverse events. The surveys were part of a methodology based on informing, feedback and benchmarking. Responses to questions were analysed semi-quantitatively, and hospitals could score 10 points on each of the domains.
Conclusion: The results showed that the applied methodology was a powerful tool to improve quality of transfusion practices and to optimize utilization of RBC at the national level.
More information: see publication in Vox Sanguinis 2021;1-9.

National Patient Blood Management survey

In 2020, all the Belgian hospitals with transfusion committees completed an online survey on PBM.
The survey consisted of 5 sections: 1) organisation, 2) PBM in haemato-oncology, 3) pre-operative PBM, 4) intra- and post-operative PBM, 5) PBM in internal medicine and geriatrics. Click here for a summary of the results.
The second national PBM survey was performed in 2023. The results are to be expected soon.

New working groups

• Immunohematology
• PBM for general practitioners
• PBM in obstetrics

Former working groups

• Working group education and training
• Working group electronic order of blood components

 

Events

Here you can find some English presentations of our past events:

• 2023:
  BeQuinT symposium: click here for more info.
   
• 2022:
  PBM webinars for clinicians:
  • Reduction of iatrogenic anaemia
    Summary of the literature on strategies to reduce iatrogenic anaemia (Prof. dr. M. Warner) (watch it here)
    A simple "Blood-Saving Bundle" to reduce diagnostic blood loss and the transfusion rate in mechanically ventilated patients (Prof. dr. R. Riessen) (watch it here)
    Methodology, implementation and evaluation of a local intervention to improve the prescription behaviour of lab tests in haematology (Dr. A. Fisher) (watch it here)
  • Blood conservation strategies
    Cell salvage in obstetrics and cancer surgery as a part of a blood conservation strategy (Prof. dr. T. Seyfried) (watch it here)
    Combined platelet and red blood cell recovery (Dr. A. Mansour) 
    Normovolemic hemodilution ancient or modern? (Prof. dr. J. Meier) (watch it here)
    Autologous blood donation(This hyperlink opens a new window) (Prof. dr. S. Lessire) (watch it here)
  • How to manage preoperative anaemia?
    Aetiology of anaemia and iron deficiency and when to refer to a specialist (haematologist – gastroenterologist)? (Prof. Dr. Y. Beguin) (watch it here)
    Practical aspects of the treatment of anaemia in a pre- and peri-operative setting (Prof. Dr. Y. Beguin) (watch it here)
• 2021:
  PBM webinars for clinicians:
  • Visco-elastic testing as a PBM tool in today clinical practice
    Introduction to viscoelastic testing(This hyperlink opens a new window) (Dr. T. Strypens, Belgium) (watch it here)
    Point-of-Care Guided Therapy: Development and validation of a ROTEM algorithm (Dr. T. Strypens, Belgium) (watch it here)
    Use of ROTEM in clinical practice: clinical cases (Dr. G. Hans, Belgium) (watch it here)
     
  • Single unit transfusion of RBC
    Single Unit Transfusion, from transfusion trigger to target (Dr. M. Beran, Belgium) (watch it here)
    Single unit transfusion policy: practical approach in the past and in the future of UZ Gent (Ms. N. Dussart, Belgium) (watch it here)
     
  • Optimising the perioperative management of anticoagulants and antiaggregants
    And then there were DOACs … (Prof. dr. K. Jochmans, Belgium) (YouTube)
    Perioperative management of anticoagulants and antiaggregants (Prof. dr. T. Vanassche, Belgium) (watch it here)
    Practical examples of presenting guidelines to the clinic concerning peri-operative anticoagulation management (Dr. E. Bailleul, Belgium) (watch it here)
    Anticoagulation management in patients with hip fracture: pitfalls and challenges (Pharm. A.-L. Sennesael, Belgium) (watch it here)
     
• 2020:
  Patient Blood Management in obstetrics (Dr. S. Pavord, UK)
  Planning for the management of potential blood shortages in hospitals in England (Prof. Dr. M. Murphy)
   
• 2017: 
  ​PBM and transfusion services in the UK (Dr. S. Morton, UK)
  PBM - What difference does the Transfusion Practitioner make? (Ms. R. Moss, UK)
  PBM in Belgium: a personal experience (Prof. Dr. P. Van der Linden, Belgium)
   
• 2014:
  PBM (Prof.  Dr. H. Gombotz, Austria)
  Single-unit RBC Transfusion Policy (Prof. Dr. G. Stüssi, Switzerland)
  Implementation of temperature indicators in the Austrian Tyrol (Prof. Dr. H. Schennach, Austria)