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Role of Blood Bank, Transfusion Services, and Pharmacy in ICU Patients with Hematologic Challenges

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Hematologic Challenges in the Critically Ill

Abstract

The practice of pharmacy and transfusion medicine is evolving rapidly in the face of a new era of healthcare calling for improved quality of care and better outcomes with lower costs. A better understanding of the principles of Patient Blood Management (PBM) and the relating therapies that are dispensed from both the pharmacy and the blood bank is a requisite for collaborating healthcare practitioners to be able to fulfill their new role as active members of healthcare teams. The traditional view on allogeneic blood transfusion as a “lifesaving” treatment has been shattered as evidence on harms of unwarranted transfusions, costs, and dwindling supplies emerges. The core tenets of PBM call for a multidisciplinary care strategy that utilizes the timely application of evidence-based medical and surgical concepts designed to maintain hemoglobin concentration, optimize hemostasis, and minimize blood loss in an effort to improve patient outcome. Various pharmacological and biological agents such as hematinics, hemostatic agents, coagulation factors and concentrates, and artificial oxygen carriers are available and/or under development to address this goal. Additionally, with new and complex medications available for use, especially modern anticoagulant therapies and their corresponding antidotes, it will be important for pharmacists and transfusion services to remain vigilant in staying up to date in order to best care for critically ill patients.

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Cruz, J.E., Nemeth, J., Burga, A. (2018). Role of Blood Bank, Transfusion Services, and Pharmacy in ICU Patients with Hematologic Challenges. In: Shander, A., Corwin, H. (eds) Hematologic Challenges in the Critically Ill. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-93572-0_20

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