Phlebotomy in a Community Teaching Hospital

A contemporary description of patients’ estimated blood losses from diagnostic phlebotomy in a census of hospital episodes from a Canadian tertiary care center

“…This study is comparable to some reported estimates of daily phlebotomy volumes in specific patient populations (i.e., medical ward services or for specific disease diagnoses). [1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20] Phlebotomy volumes have been reported to range from 13 mL/day 18 to more than 60 mL/day 10,11 between ICU cohorts. Of note, most studies showing higher levels of estimated daily blood loss (>40 mL/day) due to phlebotomy were before the year 2000, 4,[9][10][11] suggesting that practice patterns may have changed with greater recognition of the potential impact of diagnostic phlebotomy on the anemia and need for transfusion.…”

“…Several studies have described phlebotomy practices in adults, including patients with specific diagnoses admitted to surgical, 1,2 medical, [3][4][5][6][7] and intensive care units (ICU). [2][3][4][8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20] Differences in phlebotomy volumes across wards range significantly and seem to be based on intensity of care. Koch and colleagues 2 found that median estimated blood loss after cardiac surgery varied from 118 mL in patients admitted to a nursing ward compared to 332 mL for those admitted to the cardiovascular ICU in a cohort of 1894 patients.…”