A pre-operative autologous blood donation programme in a small hospital

The utilization and effectiveness of a pre-operative autologous blood donation programme were analyzed at a small, 40-bed, general hospital with subspecialization in orthopaedic surgery. Over a period of 8 months, 13 patients who were all to undergo total knee or hip replacement were evaluated. Twelve patients were found suitable and they donated in mean 1.9 units of blood. At discharge the patients who had donated blood pre-operatively had the same mean hemoglobin value as a comparable group of patients who only received blood from the ordinary blood bank service in spite of the total transfusion demand being the same in the two groups. The pre-donated blood covered 54% of the total demand of the group evaluated. The method is found especially applicable at small hospitals, where the administrative problems concerned with the method are easy to manage.