Earlier this month, the American Red Cross, responsible for about 40% of available blood components, declared a national blood shortage. Since early August, there’s been a 25% drop in blood supply, with blood being used faster than it is coming in. Currently, there is a dire need for both platelets and type O blood.

Musa JH Amanda. American Red Cross declares national blood shortage due to low donor turnout and climate disasters like Hurricane Idalia. CNN.

Blood shortage continues, please give blood now.

 

 

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the US sees an annual 11 million blood donors while more than 14 million units of blood are transfused. Northwestern Medicine says only 38% of the US population is eligible to donate blood, yet 3% of those eligible actually do so.

Blood safety basics | cdc.

Medicine N. Quick dose: what causes a blood shortage? Northwestern Medicine.

 

Blood shortages affect certain patient populations more than others, the American Red Cross says. In particular, patients with sickle cell disease require frequent transfusions, while patients with cancer require blood and platelet transfusions (half of which go to patients with cancer, with two-thirds given to children with cancer) during their care.

Blood shortage continues, please give blood now.

 

 

 

What’s behind the current blood shortage?

 

A number of variables made way for the current blood shortage, says Alexander J. Indrikovs, MD, MBA, professor of pathology and lab medicine and senior director of Transfusion Services at Hofstra/Northwell Health: “Supply shortages of blood and blood components predictively occur during summer school vacation and holidays when blood collections decrease. During these challenging periods, blood centers and hospitals must synergize efforts to optimize blood collections and transfusions.”

More so, the American Red Cross says several months of near-constant climate-driven disasters played a key role as well. For example, when Hurricane Idalia hit the United States in August, more than 700 units of blood and blood platelets went uncollected. They also forecast that fall climate disasters could potentially further the issue.

Musa JH Amanda. American Red Cross declares national blood shortage due to low donor turnout and climate disasters like Hurricane Idalia. CNN.

 

 

 

Experts & MDs on the realities of blood shortage

 

While a blood supply shortage is inherently problematic, MDs also say that knowing how to navigate limited blood supply and blood loss prevention practices is key. 

Natalie Bonthius, MD, an emergency medicine physician at Temecula Valley Hospital, says that shortages can have a major impact on patients and that protecting the blood supply for patients who desperately need to access it is key.  “[Shortages] can delay critical medical procedures, including transfusions and surgeries,” she says. However, Dr. Bonthius says MDs “need to prepare individuals to avoid the need for emergency blood products whenever possible…Many trips to the ER that require blood products are the result of accidents and injuries in outdoor settings—from ATV and offroading to injuries that result from hiking, climbing, and hunting, for example.” Many of these injuries  Dr. Bonthius says, could be preventable with proper education. 

“Outdoor and wilderness first aid and hunter safety programs are great examples of how we as physicians can encourage patients to better prepare themselves to prevent emergencies in the first place,” Dr. Bonthius adds.

Alexandra L. Kharazi, MD, a cardiothoracic surgeon based in San Diego, CA, says she’s dealt with the effects of blood supply shortage first-hand, particularly when it comes to aortic dissections. 

“This condition requires an emergency open heart operation and often circulatory arrest. This predisposes to a lot of bleeding, and generally speaking, this operation has a high transfusion rate.”

Dr. Kharazi says she looks for other options at times, trying to limit blood transfusions when possible for open heart patients in order to reduce the potential for transfusion-related complications. She also says she operates on patients who will not accept transfusions due to religious reasons. 

In these cases, Dr. Kharazi says, “We employ other strategies to limit exogenous transfusion, for example, using a cell saver to spin down the patient's own blood during the surgery.” 

That said, she always ensures that blood is available in the blood bank at the hospital. If not, she says, they pull from the city’s bank. It takes planning, but she says she hasn’t yet run out of blood. 

He goes on to say that while blood transfusion is undeniably life-saving in many circumstances, it’s not without risk. “It is also associated with complex complications and increased risks of organ failures and death. The pursuit of patient blood management (PBM) is now the standard of care around the world, wherein patients and their medical care teams should discuss the advantages and risks of transfusion therapy, especially as they plan future surgeries.”

 

How healthcare practitioners can help

 

The American Red Cross tells MDLinx that physicians can help facilitate blood donations by spreading the word to their patients and their families and/or caregivers. “Those who have a loved one receiving treatment for urgent or even planned medical care can often feel vulnerable and uncertain what they can do to help,” a spokesperson says. “Physicians are encouraged to share this need through conversations, posting blood donation information in their offices and even hosting blood drives, or getting involved in existing blood drives at their facility.”

More so, they add, “Those who are healthy and well can share their good health by donating blood, platelets, or plasma so that doctors and other medical personnel have the resources they need to treat all patients.”

When it comes to providing blood to patients, Dr. Indrikovs says that physicians must “review and critically examine each request for transfusion to ensure that transfusions are prescribed only when clinically indicated, therefore preserving blood for patients with the most urgent transfusion requirements,” saying that any blood given must be based on evidence-based transfusions indications.