Civilian walking blood bank emergency preparedness plan.
Transfusion
; 61 Suppl 1: S313-S325, 2021 07.
Article
in English
| MEDLINE | ID: covidwho-1358635
ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND:
The current global pandemic has created unprecedented challenges in the blood supply network. Given the recent shortages, there must be a civilian plan for massively bleeding patients when there are no blood products on the shelf. Recognizing that the time to death in bleeding patients is less than 2 h, timely resupply from unaffected locations is not possible. One solution is to transfuse emergency untested whole blood (EUWB), similar to the extensive military experience fine-tuned over the last 19 years. While this concept is anathema in current civilian transfusion practice, it seems prudent to have a vetted plan in place. METHODS AND MATERIALS During the early stages of the 2020 global pandemic, a multidisciplinary and international group of clinicians with broad experience in transfusion medicine communicated routinely. The result is a planning document that provides both background information and a high-level guide on how to emergently deliver EUWB for patients who would otherwise die of hemorrhage. RESULTS ANDCONCLUSIONS:
Similar plans have been utilized in remote locations, both on the battlefield and in civilian practice. The proposed recommendations are designed to provide high-level guidance for experienced blood bankers, transfusion experts, clinicians, and health authorities. Like with all emergency preparedness, it is always better to have a well-thought-out and trained plan in place, rather than trying to develop a hasty plan in the midst of a disaster. We need to prevent the potential for empty shelves and bleeding patients dying for lack of blood.Keywords
Full text:
Available
Collection:
International databases
Database:
MEDLINE
Main subject:
Blood Banks
Type of study:
Observational study
Limits:
Humans
Language:
English
Journal:
Transfusion
Year:
2021
Document Type:
Article
Affiliation country:
Trf.16458
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