Phone: (602) 239-6070
Toll-Free-: (877) 815-3114
Fax: (602) 239-4268
e-mail us
Office Hours:
Monday through Friday, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Blood Conservation Medicine is dedicated to providing medical and surgical care while reducing or eliminating the need for blood transfusions. Our program uses a team approach to assess a patient’s blood management needs and develop a plan of care using the latest drugs, technology and techniques to decrease blood loss and to enhance a patient’s own blood supply. We’re responding to a growing number of patients in our community who want safer and more effective options to blood transfusion.
Recently, the Blood Conservation Medicine department at Banner Good Samaritan Medical Center teamed with the Internal Medicine Center to establish the Banner Good Samaritan Anemia Center. The Anemia Center's clinicians will monitor a patient’s blood count, assisting prospective patients prior to surgery, reducing the need for blood transfusions and to reduce postoperative complications resulting from anemia.
Blood conservation is practical
Blood shortages and public pleas for blood donations are becoming commonplace in our society. When there is a shortage, it is not uncommon for an elective surgery to be postponed or cancelled because there is not enough blood available.
Operative techniques, such a recycling and
cleaning a patient’s blood or using smaller
draws for tests, are other ways that physicians
can reduce the amount of total blood loss
during complicated procedures. |
Blood conservation is healthier for patients
Since the mid-1980s, blood banks have taken strict precautions and safety measures to ensure a safe blood supply. Nonetheless, blood loss and transfusions during surgery can weaken patients and make them more susceptible to allergic reactions and post-operative infections. Patients who do not require blood products tend to recover faster with shorter stays in the hospital.
Success with Blood Conservation Medicine embraces the philosophy that “every drop of blood counts.” To reach that goal, we rely on three guiding principles:
- Build up patient’s own blood
Restoring the patient’s blood count to normal before surgery is vital for best outcomes. Banner Good Samaritan’s Anemia Clinic is where medicines such as intravenous iron and erythropoietin are given to enhance the patient’s ability to make red blood cells, thus turning the patient into their own blood bank.
- Reduce blood loss
Conserving the patient’s own blood is achieved by combining surgical methods, drugs, and special equipment. These include:
- Meticulous surgical technique.
- Surgical devices that seal off bleeding vessels and promote clotting and coagulation.
- Medications applied to tissue surfaces that control bleeding.
- Limited blood sampling.
- Recycle patient’s own blood
Use of blood conservation technology during surgery ensures that the blood lost by the surgeon is not lost by the patient.
- Cell-Saver technology can salvage, wash, and filter blood lost during surgery, and then return it as the patient’s need requires.
- Blood-dilution therapies expand the patient’s blood volume and minimize the loss of concentrated blood cells. Blood lost in the surgical field is diluted, containing fewer red blood cells; or some blood may be temporarily redirected and held while a surgical procedure is performed.
Blood Conservation is “the right thing to do”
Our joint mission at Banner is to make a difference in people’s lives through excellent patient care. More than 75 primary care and specialty physicians at Banner Good Samaritan are committed to blood conservation because of health benefits to their patients and because it preserves a shrinking resource.
Would you like more information?
If you would like more information about participating as a patient, physician or community member, we offer:
- Education programs to teach patients, nurses and physicians about the individual and community benefits of blood conservation
- Clinical consultations with patients and families
- Referrals to participating physicians
How can you reach us?
To speak with a staff member, call between 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., Monday through Friday. You can fax or e-mail anytime:
Phone: (602) 239-6070
outside Phoenix: (877) 815-3114
FAX: (602) 239-4268
E-mail: BloodConservation@BannerHealth.com
Newsletters and Brochures
Want to know more about Blood Conservation Medicine? Here's a number of publications to help you learn about your options: