Expected hemotherapy in elective surgery. A follow-up
P. D. Mintz, K. Lauenstein, J. Hume and J. B. Henry
Preoperative cross match guidelines were developed from a review of
elective surgical hemotherapy. Six elective surgical procedures were
studied prospectively to determine the effectiveness of the
recommendations. All six procedures demonstrated a substantial reduction in
preoperative cross match ordering during the study period, although for
only one procedure was the guidelines' recommendation followed strictly.
For those procedures that rarely required hemotherapy, an ABO-Rh typing and
an antibody detection test were recommended as a preoperative study without
a cross match. Through education of the clinical staff, successful
establishment of these guidelines can lead to substantial monetary savings,
reduced blood outdating, and a decreased blood bank workload with a more
appropriate allocation of the technologists' time and effort.
