Newsletter
April 2021
Updated Adult Blood Transfusion Guidelines
Colleagues,
Revised adult transfusion guidelines were recently approved by the Indiana University Health Patient Blood Management Council, after collaboration between Council members and our partners at Accumen.
The guidelines were revised because the Institute of Medicine has called for increased use of clinical practice guidelines to “reduce practice variation, improve quality of care, and decrease inefficiencies”. In addition, the American Association of Blood Band the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations require healthcare organizations to have a blood utilization review program. This is facilitated by the development of transfusion practice guidelines.
The updated guidelines:
- are based on evidence from current literature and will be reviewed and modified when needed as new data become available.
- are intended to define clinical circumstances in which transfusion is rarely indicated (fails to meet a defined threshold or criterion) and those in which transfusion should be considered as a clinical management option (meets a defined threshold or criterion).
- are not intended to serve, or be interpreted as, medical indications for transfusion. Rather, they describe clinical circumstances in which transfusions might be administered without additional justification in the medical record.
- include conditions for which transfusion may be considered reasonable, but not mandatory, practice.
Transfusions that fall outside these guidelines may be subject to review and require additional documentation of their necessity in the medical record. Furthermore, not all patients who are considered eligible for transfusion will benefit from transfusion, and complications from transfusions are well detailed in the literature. The decision to transfuse cannot be based solely on a single laboratory result and represents a clinical decision that considers the potential benefit of the transfusion against the known risks, as well as any available alternatives. The Patient Blood Management Council has put together a small work group that will be making changes to the order sets to reflect recent transfusion guideline updates.
These guidelines may be found on PolicyStat at https://iuhealth-ahc.policystat.com/policy/token_access/0a9dd89e-65a9-4a45-b3f6-0cc63aa1d36b/
Thank you for your support of this important patient safety and quality initiative.
Chris Weaver, MD, MBA
SVP, Chief Clinical Officer
Riley Maternity and Newborn Health Project - Update
The IU Health system is investing more than $140 million to build a new maternity and newborn health center. The president of Riley Children’s Health has more on the major project that will centralize care currently offered at three Indy hospitals. The tower will offer inpatient childbirth and newborn care, house the largest NICU in the state and provide comprehensive maternity services from lowest to highest risk pregnancies.
Go to the link below to see all the updates:
The latest update provides some pictures of the progress that is being made. To see the pictures go to the link below:
https://iuhealthcpe.org/view/riley-maternity-tower-overview-in-pictures
Learning Event - 0.25 CME
AAHC Antibiogram Updates 2021
Presented by Armisha Desai, PharmD, BCIDP
When: Thursday, April 22nd 2021 from 12pm - 1pm
To view this event online go to https://live.iuhcpe.org
From there you will be able to see other upcoming events that award CME credit and add them to your calendar.
Learning Event - 0.5 CME
How We Embraced the "What Matters To You" Movement- the Riley ED Team & Patient Experience
Presented by Tracy Miller, MBA, CPXP, Cory Showalter, MD, and Amy Knowles, MSN, RN, CPN
When: April 26, 2021 from 12:30pm - 1:30pm
To view this event online go to https://live.iuhcpe.org
From there you will be able to see other upcoming events that award CME credit and add them to your calendar.
Learning Event - 0.5 CME
Coffee Talk - The Riley Maternity Tower - The Why and The Safe Care of Women
Presented by Nicole Toole, MSN, RN
When: April 29, 2021 from 7:45am - 9:15am and 4:45pm - 6:15pm
To view this event online go to https://live.iuhcpe.org
From there you will be able to see other upcoming events that award CME credit and add them to your calendar.
National Autism Acceptance Month
In 1970, the Autism Society launched an ongoing nationwide effort to promote autism awareness and assure that all affected by autism are able to achieve the highest quality of life possible. In 1972, the Autism Society launched the first annual National Autistic Children’s week, which evolved into Autism Acceptance Month (AAM). This April, we continue our efforts to spread awareness, promote acceptance, and ignite change.
To learn more about autism acceptance month go to https://www.autismacceptance.org/
