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- Title
Civilian walking blood bank emergency preparedness plan.
- Authors
Holcomb, John B.; Spinella, Philip C.; Apelseth, Torunn Oveland; Butler, Frank K.; Cannon, Jeremy W.; Cap, Andrew P.; Corley, Jason B.; Doughty, Heidi; Fitzpatrick, Michael; Goldkind, Sara F.; Gurney, Jennifer M.; Homer, Mary J.; Ilstrup, Sarah J.; Jansen, Jan O.; Jenkins, Donald H.; Marques, Marisa B.; Moore, Eugene E.; Ness, Paul M.; O'Connor, Kevin C.; Schreiber, Martin A.
- Abstract
<bold>Background: </bold>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.<bold>Methods and Materials: </bold>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.<bold>Results and Conclusions: </bold>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.
- Subjects
BLOOD banks; EMERGENCY management; MEDICAL personnel; BLOOD products; BLOOD transfusion
- Publication
Transfusion, 2021, Vol 61, pS313
- ISSN
0041-1132
- Publication type
journal article
- DOI
10.1111/trf.16458