Expected hemotherapy in elective surgery. A follow-up

Abstract

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 6 procedures demonstrated a substantial reduction in preoperative cross match ordering during the study period, although for only 1 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.