The European Commission has published two guides on Patient Blood Management (March 2017).
The Guides, one addressed to authorities and the other addressed to hospitals, have been developed via a Public Health Programme service contract ﴾nº 20136106﴿.
Please follow these links for download …
- Building national programmes of Patient Blood Management ﴾PBM﴿ in the EU – A guide for health authorities
- Supporting Patient Blood Management ﴾PBM﴿ in the EU – A practical implementation guide for hospitals
The publication was timely as, just one month before, the journal Transfusion[*] published impressive results from a comprehensive 5‐year PBM programme in Western Australia, the world’s largest programme to date on PBM. It included 605,046 patients admitted to Western Australia’s four major adult tertiary‐care hospitals, with results showing a 28% reduction in hospital mortality, a 15% reduction in average hospital length of stay, a 21% decrease in hospital‐acquired infections ﴾transfused patients are more susceptible to infection﴿ and a 31% decrease in the incidence of heart attack or stroke. The use of blood products was reduced by 41% during the study period, achieving not only these significant patient outcome benefits but also representing a very substantial cost saving to the health service [European Commission].
[*] Leahy, M.F., et al., Improved outcomes and reduced costs associated with a health‐system–wide patient blood management program:
a retrospective observational study in four major adult tertiary‐care hospitals. Transfusion, 2017, doi:10.1111/trf.14006 [Free full paper]
For more information please contact the International Foundation for Patient Blood Management.