City-Wide Coordination for the Critical Blood Shortage Discussion
On January 18th, 2022, over 55 members of the ILABB met to discuss the current state of blood donations and product availability in Illinois. Attendees represented hospitals, vendors, regulatory and other organizations.
Current State of Blood Donations- Blood donations have declined during the COVID-19 pandemic, dating back to March 2020. The blood donation numbers have been continually low, and the current crisis is due more to increased utilization from 2020 to now. Staffing problems due to the pandemic affect the ability of our blood suppliers to collect donors, and wait times may be longer than normal. It is everyone’s responsibility to get the word out to your friends, families, colleagues and community to donate blood now, and continue to donate blood in the future.
Blood Conservation- Participants shared some strategies on reducing blood use, including postponing elective procedures, evaluating MTP cases as they are happening to determine how many cycles to transfuse.
Consider “Crisis Standards of Care”- Dr. Phillip DeChristopher shared a document from Washington State that describes efforts to triage healthcare in times of crisis and limited resources. Have discussions now with ethicists and physicians to establish guidelines to inform decision making during trauma and high risk events.
Blood Inventory Sharing Among Hospitals- Given the regulatory, safety and documentation requirements, one take away is that sharing of inventory is most readily facilitated between hospitals who use the same blood supplier.
ILABB previously forwarded an email about an upcoming AABB Webinar for Thursday January 20th from 11-12 CST. It is complimentary to AABB members. More information can be found at: 20th https://www.aabb.org/news-resources/news/article/2022/01/18/aabb-to-host-members-only-summit-to-discuss-blood-supply-challenges
Lastly, the ILABB board would like to thank the American Red Cross, Versiti and Vitalant Blood Services for participating in the event. We are grateful for the continued partnership and support from our blood suppliers.