A prospective assessment of the time required to obtain one unit of fresh whole blood by civilian phlebotomists and Army laboratory technicians (68 K)

Background Resuscitation with blood products improves survival after major hemorrhage. Blood product administration at or near the point‐of‐injury (POI) amplifies this benefit. Size, weight, and cold‐chain management challenges all limit the amount of blood medics can carry. Warm fresh whole blood (...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Transfusion (Philadelphia, Pa.) Pa.), 2023-05, Vol.63 (S3), p.S77-S82
Main Authors: Mancha, Fabiola, Mendez, Jessica, April, Michael D., Fisher, Andrew D., Hill, Ronnie, Bynum, James, Cap, Andrew P., Corley, Jason B., Schauer, Steven G.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Army
Benchmarks
blood
Blood flow
Blood Transfusion
Cannulation
donation
Hemorrhage
Humans
Intravenous administration
Laboratories
Military Personnel
Phlebotomy
Prospective Studies
Resuscitation
skill
Success
Technicians
time
Time measurement
transfusion
whole
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Summary:Background Resuscitation with blood products improves survival after major hemorrhage. Blood product administration at or near the point‐of‐injury (POI) amplifies this benefit. Size, weight, and cold‐chain management challenges all limit the amount of blood medics can carry. Warm fresh whole blood (WFWB) transfusions from a pre‐screened donor within the unit represent an alternative source of blood at the POI. We measured the time required for civilian and Army technicians performing phlebotomy frequently to obtain one unit of blood to serve as a goal metric for combat medics being trained in this skill. Methods We gathered demographic and experience data along with proportion of first intravenous cannulation attempt success, time to blood flow initiated, and time to unit draw complete. Results We prospectively enrolled 12 civilian phlebotomy technicians and 10 Army laboratory technicians performing whole blood collections on 50 and 68 donors respectively. The mean time from setup to needle insertion was 3.7 min for civilians versus 4.2 min for Army technicians. The mean time from blood flowing to the bag being full was 10.7 min versus 8.4 min for civilians versus Army technicians respectively. The mean bag weights were 514 g versus 522 g. First‐pass intravenous cannulation success was 96% versus 98% respectively. Conclusions We found a high first intravenous cannulation attempt success among both the civilian and Army technicians. Medians times were
ISSN:0041-1132
1537-2995
DOI:10.1111/trf.17341