Blood transfusion service remain prepared for emergency cases during Covid-19 outbreak
During these unprecedented times, we are all thinking about how we can adapt to keep things as ‘normal’ as possible. This extends to the wonderful blood donor programme; animal emergencies do not stop and so it is vital to have blood donations available for transfusion to the critically ill pets that need it the most.
Ruby, the RVC’s Transfusion Medicine Nurse, gave as an update on how they prepared for and are managing in the lockdown:
“Before the lockdown started, we began making preparations to ensure we had enough blood products to hopefully last us until the end of April - these donations topped up our stock levels and we were very grateful to those donors.
“Future donations have been paused for the time being, with a plan in place to call upon donors owned by staff who are already working in the QMHA, once stock needs replacing.
“The Transfusion Medicine Service nurses are continuing to monitor stock use accordingly and are currently on call whilst working from home. The use of a blood product for a patient is now being carefully considered by other services and the Emergency and Critical Care team.
“Luckily, we also have the possibility of using smaller, specific amounts due to our Tube Welder – a machine that welds a line from the blood bag to the line of an empty transfer bag and allows the blood to be moved across, therefore creating specific amounts. The Cell Saver machine can also be considered more so in these circumstances, and this allows a patient's own blood to be salvaged, processed multiple times and transferred back to the patient, saving the use of an extra blood product from a donor. This is generally used in emergency situations where the patient may be suffering blood loss from their chest or abdomen.”
A huge thank you again to all of the wonderful superhero blood donors, and a special thank you to Luna, Cassie, Daisy, Ringo, Romeo, Jet, Bernie, Dash and Artie (dogs) and Tulip (cat)! It is because of these cats and dogs the RVC team are able to save the lives of many critically ill pets. We are grateful to the Rumba Foundation for funding the Tube Welder and to the Myers family for donating the Cell Saver.
Thanks to your help we are able to improve the treatment and care of animals through clinical practice, education and research. Please donate to our ongoing work and make a difference to the thousands of pets and animals cared for each year.
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