Posted May 17, 201014 yr Hello to all, Currently the clinical practice in our NICU is to always return the pre-sample blood, after the sample blood has been obtained from an arterial line. Would appreciate any advice or info re evidence-based reseach in regards to this clinical practice issue. Thanks! Ronel (NICU RN)
May 18, 201014 yr Hi! I think most units would return the pre-sample blood volume. I do not have a good reference at hand, but am certain one would make the infant iatrogenically anemic very soon. Think about it this way, a tiny premiee may have a total blood volume 50 ml. Most would take a pre-sample blood withdrawal of 1 ml. Throwing away 2% of the total blood volume every time a sample is taken (as often happens several times/24h in a small sick premiee), that infant would need daily transfusions. There's a similar discussion going on here: http://www.99nicu.org/forum/showthread.php?23797-Pre-sample-blood-volume&highlight=blood+withdrawal I think you can get some input there as well. Ciao!
May 19, 201014 yr comment_3368 Hi all, In our unit we always return the pre-sample blood - our feeling is that we should be taking as little blood as possible to minimise the need for blood transfusions.
August 10, 201113 yr comment_4772 We always return pre-sample blood but use a closed system so it is never exposed to air. Really easy to use.
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