Patient blood management is a patient-oriented approach to avoiding unnecessary blood transfusions. With patient blood management, multiple strategies to reduce or eliminate the need for transfusions are employed.
While patient blood management results in decreased transfusions, transfusions are still reserved as an option to be used when necessary in the patient’s care.
Most patients are willing to provide consent for a potentially life-saving blood transfusion. At the same time, these patients would hope to avoid an unnecessary blood transfusion. Taking steps to minimize or avoid transfusion, if possible, is known as patient blood management.
Our six-point patient blood management plan focuses on ways to reduce blood transfusions. UPMC physicians, nurses, administrators, and support personnel work together to improve patient care by implementing these blood management techniques.
For people who are unable to have blood transfusions, the Center for Bloodless Medicine and Surgery at UPMC offers guidance to doctors and their patients on blood management strategies.
For more information about the Patient Blood Management Program at UPMC, please contact us at 1-877-674-7111.
Michael Boisen, MD, FASE, Medical Director, UPMC Patient Blood Management Program
What inspires Dr. Boisen’s passion for patient blood management techniques? Let him explain in his own words:
"As a cardiac anesthesiologist, I am on the front lines administering blood to patients in the operating rooms and intensive care units and collaborating with multiple other specialties to provide care. Since we intersect with every surgical specialty as well as obstetric and trauma patients, anesthesiologists are well positioned to promote best transfusion practices, to optimize coagulation status, and to improve pre-operative diagnosis and management of anemia. I am excited to continue working to reduce unnecessary transfusions, to better engage our patients in shared decision-making, and to improve outcomes."
Dr. Boisen joins our UPMC Blood Management Experts and Staff in delivering a patient-oriented approach to avoiding unnecessary blood transfusions.
UPMC Patient Blood Management (PBM) Program is renowned for its leadership in the field of blood management. Jonathan Waters, MD came to Pittsburgh more than 12 years ago with a passion for innovative blood management and compassionate care for patients who because of their religious beliefs refused blood transfusions. He accepted the position as chief of anesthesia at UPMC Magee-Womens Hospital.
Recognizing Dr. Waters as a respected thought leader in the emerging field of blood management, UPMC executive leadership invited him to establish a Patient Blood Management (PBM) program in 2012. His dedication to blood conservation and bloodless medicine and surgery marked the beginning of a transformative thirteen-year journey that reshaped the culture at UPMC and other health care systems.
Dr. Waters’ Six Point Blood Management Strategy forms the foundation of the program, providing a flexible framework for continuous quality improvement(1,2). This strategy incorporates computerized physician order entry (CPOE) to guide evidence-based transfusions, reduction all forms of blood waste, and the promotion of cell salvage devices and implementation of pre-operative anemia management protocols. By applying these principles, the system reduced red cell use by 35% and achieved over $10 million in cost savings. Countless patients benefited from his expertise in blood loss mitigation techniques.
Dr. Waters is committed to caring for all patients, including the Jehovah’s Witnesses patient population, and maintains a strong relationship with UPMC Hospital Liaison Committee (HLC) members, who admire his advocacy for personal choice in transfusion therapy. This led to his medical leadership of a systemwide Bloodless Medicine Program. The program has made possible the specialized services for many patients, inspired organ transplant teams to develop a bloodless medicine strategy for living donor liver transplants, and most recently, heart transplants.
Dr. Waters retired from UPMC on July 1, 2024, marking the end of a chapter. He leaves behind a legacy of respect and compassion for all patients and his influence on patient care will continue as he embarks on a new journey.
If you wish to refuse blood and/or blood products for a procedure, hospital stay, etc., you can save time by completing a Release From Liability for Failure to Administer Blood Transfusion Form (RFL) for Patients Who Decline Transfusions (PDF).
Bloodless medicine solutions are available for expecting mothers who choose not to receive blood transfusions. Connect with a bloodless medicine advocate early in your pregnancy and learn about available options. Call 877-674-7111 to get started.
