Assessment of physicians in training's knowledge of transfusion medicine at a university hospital

Objective

To evaluate the basic knowledge of transfusion medicine of medical residents who prescribe blood product transfusion.

Material and methods

We evaluated medical residents’ knowledge of transfusion medicine using multiple-choice questions.

Results

We evaluated a total of 186 residents from different departments. The mean score was 47.2 (0–100). The department with the highest score was Hematology (61.5). First-year residents achieved a score of 48.4, a score that was greater than those of subsequent years (44.7). Those who had read a practical guide on transfusion medicine obtained a better mean score than those who had not (55.4 vs. 44.6). No association was found between the mean score and the hours of transfusion medicine classes received during undergraduate training. The topic with the lowest score was related to red blood cell transfusion and fresh frozen plasma in emergency situations (7.5).

Conclusion

The results of this study show a general lack of knowledge on transfusion medicine; therefore, we believe it is important to increase the number of topics related to this subject in undergraduate and graduate classes.