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THE ORDERING OF BLOOD FOR ELECTIVE GENERAL SURGICAL OPERATIONS
Author(s) -
FARMER E.,
HAM J. M.
Publication year - 1981
Publication title -
australian and new zealand journal of surgery
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.111
H-Index - 51
eISSN - 1445-2197
pISSN - 0004-8682
DOI - 10.1111/j.1445-2197.1981.tb05909.x
Subject(s) - medicine , blood transfusion , blood units , surgical procedures , elective surgery , surgery , reduction (mathematics) , blood bank , intensive care medicine , emergency medicine , geometry , mathematics
The current practice in ordering blood for common elective general surgical operations in the Prince of Wales Hospital has been studied. The numbers of patients having serum grouped and held and those having blood cross‐matched were determined, together with the number of units cross‐matched. The percentage of patients transfused and the number of units of blood given were then assessed for each procedure. The results demonstrated that blood was often ordered for patients who were most unlikely to require it. In addition, the amounts of blood ordered were frequently excessive, so that the cross‐match‐to‐transfusion ratio (C/T ratio) for some procedures was high. We suggest that relatively simple changes in the current practice of ordering blood for operations should result in savings in costs, and most importantly, in a reduction in the wastage of blood.