Website maintenance is planned from 8:00 a.m. CDT Saturday, July 27, through 9:00 p.m. CDT Sunday, July 28. Brief disruptions may occur during this time.
Appropriate use of blood component resources is critical to maintain adequate supply. For specific elective surgeries, the need for RBC transfusion may be anticipated; however, there is often over-ordering of RBCs and a lack of valid need. The Type & Crossmatch is labor and reagent intensive, resulting in increased workload costs and increased inventory wastage. Optimizing appropriate orders for a Type & Crossmatch can prevent these downstream detriments to effective, efficient care and stewardship of our blood supply. Development and implementation of an institutional-specific maximal surgical blood ordering schedule can aid in this endeavor, along with overarching education regarding transfusion best practices. Each hospital medical staff should have a maximal surgical blood ordering schedule and it should be available to all members of the medical and hospital staff, on request.