Acute Blood Loss Anemia

ggoodman@virginiahospitalcenter.comggoodman@virginiahospitalcenter.com
in Clinical & Coding
Does anyone have a good definition of acute blood loss anemia they could share?
What clinical indicators do you look for?
Example, do you expect the H & H to drop below a certain threshold?
Is monitoring the H & H enough, or would you expect the patient to receive a blood transfusion?

Thanks!
Greta

Comments

  • katysuegood@gmail.comkatysuegood@gmail.com
    in general, I look for a 20% drop in hct from baseline. For surgical patients I typically look fro ABLA on the 2nd day post-op to account for fluid shifts and allow the pateint to stabilize post surgery. For open hearts, I give them another day and assess on post-op day 3. Of course also looking for transfutions, EBL, fatigue, tachycardia, hypotension, iron replacement, fluids given, participation in PT, etc.

    Katy Good
  • Amy_Stremming_1992Amy_Stremming_1992
    The 2014 ACDIS pocket guide defines it as loss of enough blood to become anemic or more anemic for those with chronic anemia. It also notes that documentation by the provider is definitive--not the amount of blood lost or whether a transfusion was given.

    Clinical indicators to look for are symptoms of anemia not previously present, drop in Hgb of 1.0-2.0 or Hematocrit of 3-6%, and of course if transfusion(s) given. We also look at the EBL, tachycardia, hypotension, dizziness, boluses/IVF, iron tablets and inability to participate in PT that Katy listed above.
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