The Department of Health Better Blood Transfusion Toolkit Website was introduced to support clinical colleagues to successfully implement the recommendations of the various better blood transfusion initiatives. It is part of the much larger transfusion guidelines website developed by the UK Blood Transfusion and Tissue Transplantation services. In order to assess whether the Toolkit was achieving its objective a user survey was undertaken

Survey

The web-based survey was carried out in the summer of 2008.
The aims were:

1. to identify the range of health care professionals who accessed the site
2. to determine the usefulness of the various different parts of the website
3. to obtain feed back which could contribute to the future direction and development of the site

A total of eighty seven users responded to the survey from across the UK.

Key Findings (Results)

1. Professional background:

The following groups were represented among survey respondents:

78% of users are based in Hospitals or Primary Care Trusts.

2. Frequency of use:

69% of respondents used the site at least once a month and 22% used the toolkit as their sole source of transfusion related information, although it was not clear if other parts of the transfusion guidelines website were also used.

Of the 78% who accessed other transfusion sites the most quoted were:

• BCSH guidelines
• BBTS
• SHOT
• AABB

3. Feedback on individual sections:

Overall, satisfaction with the website appeared to be high.

Users were asked to rate their satisfaction with the various sections of the toolkit by rating the fifteen sections of the toolkit as poor (1), satisfactory (2), or particularly useful (3).

Each section of the toolkit was rated as satisfactory or particularly useful by > 90% of respondents. Where an individual section was rated as poor, this was by only 1-3 respondents.

The most highly rated sections were section 5 (Managing better blood transfusion) and section 6 (Make blood transfusion safer).

Section 8 (Transfusion safety in Obstetrics), received the lowest rating with 9% indicating the section to be poor and 48% rating it to be satisfactory. This feedback was expected as at the time of the survey this section contained very little content (now populated).

4. Overall satisfaction with the Toolkit:

Respondents were asked to rate different aspects of the toolkit site as very poor (1), to very high (5)

5. Further development of the Toolkit:

The specific question "How would you like the Toolkit to develop?" was included in the survey.In response a wide range of comments were received.
Many were positive, with the majority of respondents stating the site was achieving its purpose.
There was no single common theme for improvements, but the major negative comments related to the overall look of the site and issues around navigation of the site.
The most common theme in relation to changes was the search tool and navigating the site.
Some users felt that the presentation of the site is somewhat dull.
Positive suggestions included a user forum along with more information related to MHRA requirements and information regarding the issue of competency in blood transfusion practice.

6. What did we learn from the survey?:

Overall the survey confirmed the website appears to be achieving its planned purpose. This is to the credit of the many contributors to the site (for the current list see our Toolkit members list).

The majority of suggestions are directed at improving the ease of finding specific information in this vast information resource. We will be looking at improving existing navigation and search facilities and at providing better help to the users.

We are pleased to report that since the survey the section on 'Transfusion safety in Obstetrics' has now been revised and updated with new information.

Where a number of respondents requested some form of Discussion Forum, we will keep this under review. However it should be kept in mind that the Toolkit site is specifically to provide information regarding Better Blood Transfusion initiatives and is not a general Transfusion Forum. Discussion Forums for the latter are already in existence and the toolkit would not wish to compete with these sites.

The Toolkit Editorial Board would like to thank individuals that took time to participate in the survey and to encourage ongoing feedback about the site and its development.

Dr Ann Benton, Chair – Toolkit Editorial Board
Catherine Howell, Chair – Toolkit Working Group
Paul Turner, Toolkit Editorial Board
Caroline Smith, Toolkit Webmaster