BLOOD SUPPLY IN EMERGENCIES: THE POWER OF PARTNERSHIP

MMSL 2023, 92(88):4

BLOOD SUPPLY IN EMERGENCIES: THE POWER OF PARTNERSHIPMeeting abstracts

Heidi Doughty: NHS Blood and Transplant and the University of Birmingham

Transfusion has emerged as an essential and successful element of modern combat care. The success must be placed in the context of the whole healthcare system, especially pre-hospital care. Combat has stimulated rapid innovation; with many military developments based on emerging evidence, applied with pragmatism, and refined after careful review. Many of the lessons recently identified from military medical and transfusion care have been intelligently and successfully adopted into civilian healthcare. In transfusion practice, military developments have informed pre-hospital emergency care, component development and medical planning for emergencies including blood supply contingency. In turn, combat care has benefitted from civilian transfusion governance, joint research, and regulatory expertise. Continued military-civilian collaboration and innovation in transfusion practice and emergency preparedness have the potential to benefit not only the military, but also the wider healthcare community. In this presentation we briefly review developments in emergency transfusion together with recent European and international guidance on Blood Supply contingency and Emergency Planning.