Minimizing Time to Plasma Administration and Fresh Frozen Plasma Waste: A Multimodal Approach to Improve Massive...

Massive transfusion protocols are part of damage control resuscitation for hemorrhaging trauma patients with the goal of returning the patient to hemodynamic stability. It is essential that patients receive blood products immediately and in the proper ratios. At our metropolitan Level 1 trauma center, we identified several challenges to deploying massive transfusion rapidly and within the recommended ratio guidelines. In 2016, we implemented a quality improvement project addressing 4 opportunities: fresh frozen plasma (FFP) bag breakage, plasma options, blood bank equipment, and multidisciplinary policy revision. Implementing packaging and shipping improvements, utilization of new products, and updating protocols have resulted in a 50% decrease in FFP bag breakage rates, a dramatic decrease in time for patients receiving massive transfusion to receive plasma products (mean time 3.5 min), and patients being administered the recommended ratio of blood products.