Published Study: Patient Blood Management (PBM) Program Slashes Blood Use, Transfusions and Costs while Resulting in Better Patient Outcomes
San Diego, CA (PRWEB) May 26, 2015 -- Irwin Gross, M.D., Accumen, Inc.’s senior medical director, launched and directed a hospital-wide Patient Blood Management (PBM) initiative at Eastern Maine Medical Center (EMMC) in Bangor that reduced overall blood usage by more than 60 percent and improved patient outcomes over a five-year period.
Covered in detail in an article in the May 2015 edition of Transfusion, the PBM program resulted in substantially reduced perioperative red cell loss, less acute kidney injury and cut the need for transfusions in the full-service hospital’s cardiac department. Other benefits revealed by the study included shorter hospital stays and lower total direct costs.
The published study, co-authored by Dr. Gross with Burkhardt Seifert, Axel Hofmann, and Donat R. Spahn, analyzed and compared clinical and transfusion data from 2,662 cardiac surgery patients at the 411-bed Eastern Maine Medical Center both before and after the introduction of the PBM program, which was launched in April 2007.
Eastern Maine Medical Center’s PBM initiative involved pre- and postoperative anemia management, a more restrictive transfusion threshold and the use of single-unit transfusions when necessary, as well as other measures. After the medical center instituted the program, patients needed fewer transfusions of red cells, fresh-frozen plasma and platelets. The rates of hospital mortality and cerebral vascular accident did not change.
“For the past 10-plus years there has been a quiet revolution happening in transfusion medicine. Really a transfusion revolution,” Dr. Gross said. “This change in clinical management takes a critical look at misconceptions and outdated, non-evidence based transfusion practices and is replacing them with an evidence-based patient-centered approach to blood management and transfusion safety. It is my hope that this study and others like it will continue to accelerate change when it comes to the appropriate ordering of blood products in cardiac surgery.”
The full article titled “Patient Blood Management in Cardiac Surgery Results in Fewer Transfusions and Better Outcome” is available for review in the May 2015 issue of Transfusion.
Dr. Gross, a nationally recognized expert in Patient Blood Management, joined Accumen in January 2015 to continue his leadership in ensuring a transfusion revolution in Health Systems across the country through Accumen’s comprehensive PBM program, and delivering overall laboratory excellence through their proprietary “Laboratory Transformation Model”. He helps direct and complement Accumen’s diverse team of health care and outside industry professionals.
Dr. Gross is a board certified anatomic and clinical pathologist, and nationally recognized speaker and author on subjects including Patient Blood Management and transfusion safety. He formerly sat on the board of directors for the Society for the Advancement of Blood Management (SABM) and chairs the SABM Standards Committee that published the first Administrative and Clinical Standards for Patient Blood Management.
About Accumen
Accumen Inc. partners with health systems to deliver excellence in laboratory and comprehensive Patient Blood Management. Accumen brings together diverse industry expertise and innovative thinking to optimize laboratories for improved cost, quality, service and outreach growth. To obtain more information or to contact Accumen, visit http://www.accumen.com or info(at)accumen(dot)com
About Eastern Maine Medical Center
Eastern Maine Medical Center (EMMC) is located in Bangor and serves communities throughout central, eastern and northern Maine. Under community direction, it has grown from a five-bed general hospital into a comprehensive 411-bed medical center.
Ted Landis, Accumen Inc., http://www.accumen.com, +1 602-538-1808, [email protected]
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