Round Afghanistan with a fridge

INTRODUCTION: This paper covers the contemporary deployment of blood products in the pre-hospital environment during extended field operations in Afghanistan. The equipment used was standard-issue to the British Armed Forces but used in a novel manner. The aim of this paper was to establish the reliability of the RCB42P blood bank and the concept of blood storage in the field during protracted vehicle-borne patrols. METHOD: TempIT tag data was collected for five patrols and analysed. Ambient temperatures varied immensely from minus 5°C to plus 50°C. Mitigation measures were introduced to reduce the exposure of the blood bank to radiated and ambient heat. RESULTS: The blood bank is affected by radiated heat from the engine compartment on long journeys coupled with high ambient temperatures. However, this can be minimised by simple mitigation measures using insulation and passive cooling. CONCLUSIONS: The RCB42P blood bank is a robust unit capable of enduring a considerable amount of physical abuse and extremes of temperature. It is suitable for the storage of blood products on protracted vehicle-borne patrols in high ambient temperatures if the mitigation measures outlined are employed.