Melbourne - Medianet International-AsiaNet/ - The notion of giving some patients blood to pep them up is dangerous and surgeons need to be more aware that blood transfusions are risky and should only be given as a last resort.
Australian surgeon Professor Cliff Hughes is warning surgeons in Hong Kong today at the co-joint Annual Scientific Congress of the College of Surgeons of Australasia and Hong Kong, that the majority of blood transfusions are unnecessary.
"We are talking about elective surgery patients that are basically healthy when they have the operations."
In the past transfusions were seen as a tonic for the patient but we now know that it causes complications including increasing the chance of infections and the time spent in hospital.
Also unnecessary blood transfusions can be deadly because of what can be transmitted through the blood like HIV or Hepatitis
C and B.
"We decided the way to tackle the problem was to try and change surgeons prescribing habits but the difficulty was that most surgeons were very confidant that they were already doing the right thing. However this assumption was often incorrect according to the data that we collected over a five year period and we also found that there was a wide variation in how blood transfusions were delivered in hospitals. In 73 per cent of cases there was no clinical need."
"We empowered surgeons to be the gatekeepers and we were able to reduce the blood use in hospitals by 10 per cent and that is a huge saving in the hospital system," Professor Hughes said.
The Congress will run from Tuesday 12 May until Friday 16 May, at the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre.
Journalists are welcome to attend for more information please call Fiona Gillies, RACS Media & PR Manager on +61 407 339 556
or +852 2132 4886 Ruth Charters, RACS Media & PR Officer on +852 9767 1350 OR +852 2132 4885
SOURCE: Royal Australasian College of Surgeons
Australian surgeon Professor Cliff Hughes is warning surgeons in Hong Kong today at the co-joint Annual Scientific Congress of the College of Surgeons of Australasia and Hong Kong, that the majority of blood transfusions are unnecessary.
"We are talking about elective surgery patients that are basically healthy when they have the operations."
In the past transfusions were seen as a tonic for the patient but we now know that it causes complications including increasing the chance of infections and the time spent in hospital.
Also unnecessary blood transfusions can be deadly because of what can be transmitted through the blood like HIV or Hepatitis
C and B.
"We decided the way to tackle the problem was to try and change surgeons prescribing habits but the difficulty was that most surgeons were very confidant that they were already doing the right thing. However this assumption was often incorrect according to the data that we collected over a five year period and we also found that there was a wide variation in how blood transfusions were delivered in hospitals. In 73 per cent of cases there was no clinical need."
"We empowered surgeons to be the gatekeepers and we were able to reduce the blood use in hospitals by 10 per cent and that is a huge saving in the hospital system," Professor Hughes said.
The Congress will run from Tuesday 12 May until Friday 16 May, at the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre.
Journalists are welcome to attend for more information please call Fiona Gillies, RACS Media & PR Manager on +61 407 339 556
or +852 2132 4886 Ruth Charters, RACS Media & PR Officer on +852 9767 1350 OR +852 2132 4885
SOURCE: Royal Australasian College of Surgeons
No comments:
Post a Comment