Assessing blood loss in clinical practice

Postpartum haemorrhage is a major global cause of mortality and morbidity amongst childbearing women. Failure or delay in recognising the severity of bleeding is an important contributory factor in these outcomes. Earlier recognition of haemorrhage would facilitate earlier intervention and treatment, helping resolve the causes of bleeding sooner, and thereby improving outcomes for women. Ways to achieve earlier recognition have traditionally focussed on the clinical skill of assessing the volume of blood loss. However, despite extensive research, the optimum method of assessing blood loss and achieving earlier diagnosis remains unclear. Examination of the psychological literature suggests that clinical decision-making is more complex and highlights some of the reasons why traditional approaches have had a limited effect. Using psychological theories of decision-making to inform solutions may lead to more successful strategies to address the issues than the current focus on volume assessment of blood loss.