Institution-Wide Blood Management Protocol Reduces Transfusion Rates Following Spine Surgery

Spine surgery is associated with significant intraoperative blood loss, often leading to transfusion. Patients who receive transfusions have an increased length of stay and risk of perioperative complications. To decrease the transfusion rate, we implemented an evidence-based institution-wide restrictive transfusion blood management guideline. The goal of this study is to describe the impact of this guideline on our spine surgery patients.

We analyzed the incidence of transfusion following 3709 single-institution, inpatient spine procedures before and after implementation of a revised blood transfusion protocol. The baseline period (1742 patients) from January 2014 to March 2015 was compared to the study period (1967 patients) of April 2015 to July 2016. One patient was excluded because of incomplete medical records. The revised protocol included establishing a postoperative blood transfusion trigger at hemoglobin < 7g/dL, instituting a computerized provider order entry, and appointing a physician champion to monitor and report progress.

Transfusion rate decreased from 16.2% to 9.7% from baseline to study period, respectively (P < .001). The number of transfusions in patients with hemoglobin > 7g/dL decreased to 4.9% from 6.1% (P = .09). The rate of transfusions with a prior hemoglobin test increased from 42.0% to 59.1% (P < .001). Length of stay was reduced from 3.67 to 3.46 days (P = .04), and postsurgical infection rate was reduced from 1.5% to 0.6% (P = .01). There was no significant difference in total hospital costs following protocol implementation.

Implementation of a restrictive transfusion protocol through use of a computerized provider order entry and a physician champion to oversee clinician compliance led to a 40.1% reduction in blood transfusion following spine surgery. Behavior changes were visible with a 40.7% increase in hemoglobin documentation before transfusion, and patients benefited from a reduction in length of stay and postsurgical infection rate. Future study is encouraged to understand the long-term impact of this intervention and its role in hospital expenditure.