Bridging the gap in haemovigilance: a knowledge, attitude and practice survey among postgraduates at a tertiary care hospital in Chennai.

OBJECTIVES: To assess the knowledge, attitude and practice (KAP) regarding haemovigilance among postgraduate doctors in a tertiary care teaching hospital, to identify associations between postgraduate year and departmental discipline and KAP levels, and to determine gaps that could be addressed through targeted educational and institutional interventions to strengthen haemovigilance practices. DESIGN: Cross-sectional, questionnaire-based survey. SETTING: A single tertiary care teaching hospital in Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India. The survey was conducted over a 2-month period between August and September 2025. PARTICIPANTS: All 173 eligible postgraduate doctors undergoing residency training in clinical, paraclinical and non-clinical departments were invited to participate using a census sampling approach. A total of 150 postgraduate doctors completed the survey, yielding a response rate of 86.7%. Eligible participants had completed at least 3 months of postgraduate training and provided electronic informed consent. Interns, undergraduate students, consultants and postgraduate doctors on long-term leave during the study period were excluded. PRIMARY AND SECONDARY OUTCOME MEASURES: The primary outcome was the assessment of KAP regarding haemovigilance using an investigator-developed 32-item questionnaire that underwent expert review and pilot testing. Secondary outcomes included assessment of associations between postgraduate year and departmental discipline with knowledge and practice levels, and evaluation of correlations between KAP scores. RESULTS: Among the 150 participants, the mean age was 29.3±2.1 years, and 64.0% were female. Knowledge regarding blood components and transfusion indications was generally good; however, awareness of the Haemovigilance Programme of India and the Transfusion Reaction Reporting Form remained limited. Participants demonstrated predominantly good knowledge and positive attitudes, whereas practice scores were comparatively lower. No significant association was observed between postgraduate year or departmental discipline and KAP categories (p>0.05). Spearman correlation analysis demonstrated a moderate positive correlation between knowledge and practice (ρ=0.63), a strong positive correlation between attitude and practice (ρ=0.81) and a moderate correlation between knowledge and attitude (ρ=0.42), indicating that better knowledge and positive attitudes were associated with improved haemovigilance practices. CONCLUSIONS: Postgraduate doctors demonstrated satisfactory knowledge and favourable attitudes towards haemovigilance; however, these did not consistently translate into optimal reporting practices. The findings highlight the need for structured haemovigilance training, increased awareness of national reporting systems and simplified institutional reporting pathways to strengthen adverse transfusion reaction reporting and improve patient safety. Future multicentre studies are warranted to evaluate the effectiveness of educational and system-level interventions across diverse healthcare settings.