Study: Blood management guidelines reduce blood use, costs

Editor's Note

Improving processes for ordering, transporting, and storing blood at Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Nashville, Tennessee, resulted in $2 million in savings and a 30% reduction in blood utilization in a study presented as a poster presentation at the 2016 American College of Surgeons National Surgical Quality Improvement Program Conference in San Diego.

The blood utilization practice guidelines, which were developed by a multidisciplinary team, changed provider orders to request a single unit and then follow up and order more blood if necessary. The previous standard process was to order two units of blood.

The improvements in blood utilization resulted in fewer than 80 units of blood being wasted in 2015, down from 300 in 2011.

Vanderbilt University Medical Center researchers successfully reduced blood utilization and wastage by implementing guidelines for the perioperative handling of blood NEWS FROM THE AMERICAN COLLEGE OF SURGEONS | FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE SAN DIEGO (Sunday, July 17, 5 pm PDT): Improving the processes of ordering, transporting, and storing blood can save millions of dollars and drastically reduce blood wastage, reported a research team from one academic medical center after implementing institutional initiatives to address blood management.