http://www.nature.com/news/evidence-based-medicine-save-blood-save-lives-1.17224
Evidence-based medicine: Save blood, save lives
Transfusions are one of the most overused treatments in modern medicine, at a cost of billions of dollars. Researchers are working out how to cut back.
"And as transfusion rates fell, so did mortality, average length of stay and the number patients who needed to be readmitted within 30 days of a transfusion. By simply asking doctors to think twice about transfusions, the hospital had not only reduced costs, but also improved patient outcomes."
"The conservative approach is starting to gain acceptance among clinicians. More and more medical associations and professional organizations now recommend haemoglobin thresholds of around 7 g dL−1 to 8 g dL−1 — and hospitals are implementing strategies to reduce the odds that a patient will need a transfusion in the first place. Doctors are administering iron supplements to people with anaemia who are scheduled for elective surgery, minimizing the amount of blood drawn for laboratory tests and using 'cell salvage' techniques that collect and then re-infuse the blood a patient loses during surgery. Many of these measures have long been used to treat Jehovah's Witnesses, who object to transfusions on religious grounds; now they are being applied to the broader population."
Evidence-based medicine: Save blood, save lives
Transfusions are one of the most overused treatments in modern medicine, at a cost of billions of dollars. Researchers are working out how to cut back.
"And as transfusion rates fell, so did mortality, average length of stay and the number patients who needed to be readmitted within 30 days of a transfusion. By simply asking doctors to think twice about transfusions, the hospital had not only reduced costs, but also improved patient outcomes."
"The conservative approach is starting to gain acceptance among clinicians. More and more medical associations and professional organizations now recommend haemoglobin thresholds of around 7 g dL−1 to 8 g dL−1 — and hospitals are implementing strategies to reduce the odds that a patient will need a transfusion in the first place. Doctors are administering iron supplements to people with anaemia who are scheduled for elective surgery, minimizing the amount of blood drawn for laboratory tests and using 'cell salvage' techniques that collect and then re-infuse the blood a patient loses during surgery. Many of these measures have long been used to treat Jehovah's Witnesses, who object to transfusions on religious grounds; now they are being applied to the broader population."
