About the Authors

Emmy De Buck

Affiliation Centre for Evidence-Based Practice, Belgian Red Cross-Flanders, Mechelen, Belgium

Tessa Dieltjens

Affiliation Centre for Evidence-Based Practice, Belgian Red Cross-Flanders, Mechelen, Belgium

Veerle Compernolle

Affiliations Blood Service, Belgian Red Cross-Flanders, Mechelen, Belgium, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, University of Ghent, Ghent, Belgium

Philippe Vandekerckhove

philippe.vandekerckhove@rodekruis.be

Affiliations Belgian Red Cross-Flanders, Mechelen, Belgium, Department of Public Health and Primary Care, Faculty of Medicine, Catholic University of Leuven, Leuven, Belgium, Faculty of Medicine, University of Ghent, Ghent, Belgium

Competing Interests

The authors have read the journal's policy and have the following competing interests: All authors are employees of Belgian Red Cross-Flanders, which is responsible for supplying adequate quantities of safe blood products to hospitals in Flanders and Brussels on a continuous basis.

Author Contributions

Conceived and designed the experiments: EDB TD VC PV. Analyzed the data: EDB TD. Wrote the paper: EDB PV. Formulated research question and selection criteria: EDB TD VC PV. Performed the literature search and study selection: EDB TD.