Contemporary Bloodletting in Cardiac Surgical Care

The CCF group conducted a study of their phlebotomy practices during a 6-month period in 2012.  Phlebotomy volumes on each patient were estimated and calculated.  Surprisingly, the group found that, on average, cardiac surgery patients lose ~10% of their blood volume due to postoperative phlebotomy alone.  Clearly, further efforts are indicated to minimize such blood loss.  These efforts will include using smaller volume tubes, assessing the necessity of some of the blood tests, and developing a suitable means of minimizing discard volumes when blood is drawn from a patient line.