17 March 2017 (Friday) - Transfusion Guidelines



This month, my place of work has launched the "Appropriate Transfusion Project" which aims to change practice and ensure the full implementation of the latest NICE Transfusion Guidelines with the Trust. 

What does NICE recommend?
·         Single unit transfusions on patients who do not have active bleeding and to clinically re-assess patients and check haemoglobin levels after each unit of red blood cells.
·         Use a restrictive transfusion threshold of 70g/L and a target haemoglobin level of 71—90g/L after transfusion.

What are the exceptions?
A restrictive transfusion threshold is not appropriate in cases of:

Major haemorrhage
·         Acute coronary syndrome – For these patients consider a threshold haemoglobin level of 80g/L and a target haemoglobin concentration of >81-100g/L after transfusion.
·         Chronic anaemia – for patients who require transfusion for chronic anaemia, consider setting individual thresholds and haemoglobin targets for each patient.

It is recommended that when transfusing patients these best practice parameters should be borne in in mind.  It is important that when requesting blood that the clinical justification and Hb level are stated on the request form.

I’m looking forward to starting in blood bank to see how this will be applied in practice


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