Heart surgery patients get blood drawn so often that they sometimes develop hospital-acquired anemia, according to a study published in The Annals of Thoracic Surgery.
All too often, healthcare providers are unaware of how frequently patients are having their blood drawn and the volume of their phlebotomy.
One study examined laboratory tests for 1,894 patients who underwent cardiac surgery at the Cleveland Clinic between Jan. 1, 2012 and June 20, 2012. Nearly all patients had one hospitalization, only 27 had two.
During their hospitalizations, more than 221,400 laboratory tests were performed, averaging out to roughly 115 tests per patient with a cumulative media volume of 454 milliliters (or roughly 15 ounces) during each individual's stay.
The most frequently performed tests were:
- Blood gas analyses (88,068)
- Coagulation tests (39,535)
- Complete blood counts (30,421)
- Metabolic panels (29,374)
The study also discovered that more complex procedures were associated with higher overall blood draw volume than isolated procedures. Still, the amount of blood drawn floored the researchers.
"We were astonished by the extent of bloodletting, with total phlebotomy volumes approaching amounts equivalent to one to two red blood cell units," wrote the study authors. "Implementation of process improvement initiatives can potentially reduce phlebotomy volumes and resource utilization."
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