Reducing neonatal transfusions.
In an attempt to prevent blood transfusions from being ordered unnecessarily in our neonatal intensive care unit (NICU), we developed transfusion guidelines and prospectively evaluated their impact on our transfusion practices. Initially, 17% of our packed red blood cell transfusions (PRBCT) did not meet our guidelines. However, 6 months following development of the guidelines, this decreased to 9%, and 12 months later, it decreased to 1%. Although the guidelines are clearly arbitrary, they do provide for consistency within our NICU and a method of evaluating our own use of PRBCT.
Batton
D G
DG
Department of Pediatrics, William Beaumont Hospital, Royal Oak, Michigan 48072-6769.
Goodrow
D
D
Walker
R H
RH
D001049:Apnea / Q000628:therapy; D016913:Blood Component Transfusion / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D004899:Erythroblastosis, Fetal / Q000628:therapy; D006470:Hemorrhage / Q000628:therapy; D006801:Humans; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D012127:Respiratory Distress Syndrome, Newborn / Q000628:therapy; D012189:Retrospective Studies