Estimated injury-associated blood loss versus availability of emergency blood products at a district-level public hospital in Cape Town, South Africa
Date
2018
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Elsevier
Abstract
Introduction: International guidance suggests that injury-associated haemorrhagic shock should be resuscitated using blood products. However, in low- and middle-income countries resuscitation emphasises the use of crystalloids – mainly due to poor access to blood products. This study aimed to estimate the amount of blood loss from serious injury in relation to available emergency blood products at a secondary-level, public Cape Town
hospital.
Methods: This retrospective, cross-sectional study included all injured patients cared for in the resuscitation area
of Khayelitsha Hospital’s emergency centre over a fourteen-week period. Injuries were coded using the
Abbreviated Injury Scale, which was then used to estimate blood loss for each patient using an algorithm from
the Trauma Audit Research Network. Descriptive statistics were used to describe blood volume lost and blood
units required to replace losses greater than 15% circulating blood volume. Four units of emergency blood are
stored in a dedicated blood fridge in the emergency centre. Platelets and fresh plasma are not available.
Results: A total of 389 injury events were enrolled of which 93 were excluded due to absent clinic data. The mean age was 29 (±10) years. We estimated a median of one unit of blood requirement per week or weekend, up to a maximum of eight or six units, respectively. Most patients (n=275, 94%) did not have sufficient injury
to warrant transfusion. Overall, one person would require a transfusion for every 15 persons with a moderate to
serious injury.
Conclusion: The volume of available emergency blood appears inadequate for injury care, and doesn’t consider
the need for other causes of acute haemorrhage (e.g. gastric, gynaecological, etc.). Furthermore, lack of other
blood components (i.e. plasma and platelets) presents a challenge in this low-resourced setting. Further research
is required to determine the appropriate management of injury-associated haemorrhage from a resource and
budget perspective.
Description
CITATION: Weeber, H., et al. 2018. Estimated injury-associated blood loss versus availability of emergency blood products at a district-level public hospital in Cape Town, South Africa. African Journal of Emergency Medicine, 8(2):69-74, doi:10.1016/j.afjem.2018.01.004.
The original publication is available at https://www.sciencedirect.com
The original publication is available at https://www.sciencedirect.com
Keywords
Injury-associated blood loss, Blood -- Transfusion -- Khayelitsha (Cape Town, South Africa), Public hospitals -- Khayelitsha (Cape Town, South Africa), Emergency medical services -- Khayelitsha (Cape Town, South Africa)
Citation
Weeber, H., et al. 2018. Estimated injury-associated blood loss versus availability of emergency blood products at a district-level public hospital in Cape Town, South Africa. African Journal of Emergency Medicine, 8(2):69-74, doi:10.1016/j.afjem.2018.01.004