A guideline for anticipated blood usage during elective surgical procedures

Area of Science:

• Transfusion Medicine
• Healthcare Management
• Surgical Safety

Background:

• Excessive crossmatching of blood products contributes to inefficient resource allocation in blood banks.
• Routine two-unit crossmatches for all elective surgeries may lead to unnecessary laboratory workload and blood wastage.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop and implement a realistic transfusion guideline aimed at reducing excessive blood crossmatching.
• To optimize the use of blood resources by aligning crossmatching practices with actual patient needs during surgery.

Main Methods:

• Collaborative development of guidelines between anesthesiology and surgery departments.
• Recommending ABO-Rh type and antibody screen instead of routine two-unit crossmatch for low-usage elective procedures.
• Determining preoperative crossmatch volumes for high-usage procedures based on historical transfusion data.

Main Results:

• The guideline provides clear recommendations for preoperative crossmatching based on surgical procedure type.
• Facilitates informed decisions for anesthesiologic and surgical staff regarding blood needs.
• Enables more efficient distribution of limited blood bank resources.

Conclusions:

• Implementation of the guideline leads to more efficient blood resource management.
• Reduces patient and laboratory costs associated with transfusion therapy.
• Establishes a data-driven approach to preoperative blood crossmatching.