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The ‘transfusion trigger’ in three large West of Scotland hospitals: medical staff questionnaire survey
Author(s) -
Garrioch,
Sandbach,
McIlveney
Publication year - 2000
Publication title -
transfusion medicine
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.471
H-Index - 59
eISSN - 1365-3148
pISSN - 0958-7578
DOI - 10.1046/j.1365-3148.2000.00252.x
Subject(s) - medicine , blood transfusion , blood management , emergency medicine , health care , medical emergency , intensive care medicine , pediatrics , surgery , economics , economic growth
Efficient use of blood is desirable due to increased demand for blood, shortfall in donations, and the risk of mismatch transfusion accidents and transfusion‐transmitted infections. We surveyed transfusion practice in three hospitals. Low haemoglobin was a feature in 91% of transfusion requests and is the commonest ‘trigger’ for transfusion. Forty‐eight per cent of transfusions were initiated with the aim of restoring haemoglobin to 10 g dL −1 . Seventy‐three per cent of transfusions were given when the patient's haemoglobin was between 7 and 10 g dL −1 . These figures suggest liberal blood use when compared with international practice. Major healthcare resource and patient safety implications result from this. Evidence‐based guidelines issued at both local and national levels would be helpful.