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Moving from a culture of ‘tranfusion practice’ to one of’ patient blood management’ improves patient outcomes, reduces transfusion of allogeneic blood products and cost
Abstract   Peer reviewed

Moving from a culture of ‘tranfusion practice’ to one of’ patient blood management’ improves patient outcomes, reduces transfusion of allogeneic blood products and cost

Bronwyn Pearse, Douglas Wall, Ian Smith, Daniel Faulke and Lin Fung
Heart, Lung & Circulation, Vol.24(S1), pp.e34-e35
Australia and New Zealand Society of Cardio-thoracic Surgeons’ Annual Scientific Meeting, 2014 (Gold Coast, Australia, 09-Nov-2014–12-Nov-2014)
2015
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.hlc.2014.12.073
url
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.hlc.2014.12.073View
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Abstract

Introduction: Continuous practice improvement initiatives that enhance patient outcomes are a goal of high-performing surgical, anaesthesia and critical care departments. Patient outcomes are negatively impacted by excessive bleeding post cardiac surgery. Treatment of bleeding invariably involves transfusion with blood products which may further exacerbate post-operative complications. Despite the existence of multiple guidelines that address bleeding management, there appears to be reluctance to incorporate these recommendations into standard practice, possibly due to: a lack of awareness of ‘Patient Blood Management’ (PBM) guidelines, limited confidence in available evidence, resistance from clinicians who have “always managed before”, economic and logistical obstacles to implementing complex practice change, or a combination of factors. We aimed to embed a service-wide practice change, from a culture of ‘transfusion practice’ to a culture of ‘PBM’, through the development and implementation of a formalised bleeding management protocol that included:(i) identifying the patient at high risk of bleeding, (ii) supported by point care diagnostic testing and (iii) providing algorithm driven treatment options.

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