Demand for Banked Blood Dwindles; Regional Blood Centers Cut Staff

I was a blood banker for nine years back in the 70's. For all that time, I was engaged in a constant struggle to increase the blood and blood product inventory while simultaneously tamping down demand, mainly from surgeons. One of the ways that I helped to reduce blood utilization and also increase useful shelf life of blood was with the maximum surgical blood order schedule (MSBOS) that placed limits on the number of units of crossmatched blood that surgeons could order preoperatively and store in the OR refrigerators (see: Hospitals Seek to Limit Blood Transfusions as a Cost-Saving Measure). Now, some four decades later, the tide is beginning to turn. Physicians are realizing that blood transfusion is not a panacea and may harm patients beyond the threat of transmission of infectious disease. Below is an excerpt from a recent article that discusses what appear to be a significant downturn in business for blood banks (see: AS DEMAND DWINDLES, US BLOOD BANKS MAKE CHANGES): Blood banks are declaring fewer critical shortages these days and in some cases cutting staff in response to dwindling demand for blood - the result of fewer elective surgeries being performed and medical advances that curb bleeding in the operating room. The nation's blood-collection system has undergone a dramatic change from just a decade ago, when agencies that oversee the blood supply worried whether they could keep up with the needs of an aging population. Now blood banks are making fewe...
Source: Lab Soft News - Category: Pathologists Authors: Tags: Blood Banking Clinical Lab Industry News Healthcare Delivery Laboratory Industry Trends Medical Consumerism Medical Education Source Type: blogs