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 and Conclusions: 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.
Original language | English |
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Journal | Transfusion |
Volume | 61 |
Issue number | Suppl. 1 |
Pages (from-to) | S313-S325 |
ISSN | 0041-1132 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - Jul 2021 |
Bibliographical note
Publisher Copyright:© 2021 AABB
Keywords
- emergency
- transfusion
- walking blood bank
- whole blood
- Civil Defense
- Blood Banks/methods
- Emergency Service, Hospital
- COVID-19/epidemiology
- Pandemics
- Humans
- Blood Transfusion/methods
- Blood Preservation/methods