The Bloody Truth:
Follow Us
Category Archives: Appropriate Blood Utilization
To predonate or not to predonate, that is the question
Last’s week’s Journal of the American Medical Association included a clinical crossroads case study on autologous predonation (1). The scenario was a relatively healthy, non-anemic woman (“Mrs. C”) who was scheduled for elective knee replacement surgery and was asking for … Continue reading
Iron: It’s Not Just for Hemoglobin
Iron deficiency is common – very common. Estimates of the prevalence of iron deficiency in the U.S. vary depending on the age of the population studied and co-morbidities. In the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES III) iron deficiency … Continue reading
Untangling transfusion, patient safety, and biologic product deviations
by Dr. Carolyn Burns, Medical Director, Transfusion Services, Strategic Healthcare Group LLC The July supplement to Transfusion, the Journal of Blood Services Management, contains an excellent and quite provocative article surrounding the knowledge of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) … Continue reading
Guiding Transfusion Guidelines: Part 2
Last month’s article on Guiding Transfusion Guidelines: Part 1 covered the general concepts of implementing clinical practice guidelines. Appropriate transfusion decisions are a critically important and often overlooked part of the transfusion safety chain from donor to patient1, so evidence-based … Continue reading
Guiding Transfusion Guidelines: Part 1
February is my favorite month to discuss improving blood utilization because it is the anniversary of the Transfusion Requirements in Critical Care (TRICC) trial, published in the New England Journal of Medicine on February 11th, 1999.1 In this landmark study2, … Continue reading
The Heartbreak of Blood Transfusions
Patients with ischemic heart disease have always been of special concern for transfusion therapy. There are a number of observational studies showing that moderate to severe anemia in patients with cardiac disease is associated with adverse outcomes, including higher mortality … Continue reading
Posted in Appropriate Blood Utilization
Leave a comment
The Importance of Effective Blood Utilization Committees
February is always a good month to talk about blood utilization oversight because it is the anniversary of the Transfusion Requirements in Critical Care (TRICC) trial, published in the New England Journal of Medicine on February 11th, 1999.1 In this … Continue reading
Posted in Appropriate Blood Utilization
Leave a comment
