The National Transfusion Dataset (NTD) is a collection of transfusion episode data incorporating transfusion, laboratory and hospital data from hospitals and health services, as well as prehospital transfusion data from ambulance and retrieval services.

The NTD will form the first integrated national database of blood usage in Australia. The NTD aims to collect information about where, when, and how blood products are used across all clinical settings. This will address Australia’s absence of an integrated national database to record blood usage with the ability to link with clinical outcomes. The dataset will be an invaluable resource towards a comprehensive understanding of how and why blood products are used, numbers and characteristics of patients transfused in health services, the clinical outcomes after transfusion; and provide support to policy development and research.

The NTD was formed through the incorporation of the established Australian and New Zealand Massive Transfusion Registry (ANZ-MTR) and a pilot Transfusion Database (TD) project. The ANZ-MTR has a unique focus on massive transfusion (MT) and contains over 10,000 cases from 41 hospitals across Australia and New Zealand. The TD was a trial extension of the registry that collated data on ALL (not just massive) transfusions on >8000 patients from pilot hospitals. The NTD will integrate and expand these databases to provide new data on transfusion practice including blood utilisation, clinical management and the vital closing of the haemovigilance loop.

Conditions of use:

Any material or manuscript to be published using NTD data must be submitted for review by the NTD Steering Committee prior to submission for publication. The NTD, and Partner Organisations should be acknowledged in all publications. Preferred wording for the acknowledgement will be provided with the data. The NTD reserves the right to dissociate itself from conclusions drawn if it deems necessary.

If the data is the primary source for a report or publication, the source of the data must be acknowledged, along with a statement that the analysis and interpretation are those of the author, not the NTD. Where an author analysing the data is a member of an organisation formally associated, or partnered with the NTD, the NTD should be acknowledged as a secondary affiliation. Where the author is a member of the NTD Project Team, then the primary attribution should be the NTD. The dataset DOI (10.26180/22151987) must be referenced in all publications.

Further information can be found in the Data Access and Publications Policy.

To submit a data access request click here.

The Transfusion Research Unit have been busy expanding the Aus & NZ Massive Transfusion Registry into a database that tracks usage of donated blood units across all transfusion episodes nationally, massive and small alike. The expansion follows a grant from the Australian Research Data Commons, and will inform best practice and policy around use of this most precious of medical resources.

The NTD was mentioned in the March 2023 ANZSBT Newsletter.

Article titled: National Transfusion Dataset: A First Step in National Streamlined Blood Use.