Low‐titer group O whole blood implementation in a tertiary care hospital in Estonia

Abstract

The implementation of the use of low titre group O whole blood in the North Estonia Medical Centre took place in a little more than 2 years. It began with the creation of a low‐titer O+ male donor registry, included a pilot project with a limited number of patients, validation of whole blood as a new product, and also required a change in the Estonian law. Today, whole blood is in routine use in emergency patients of both sexes and all ages with life‐threatening bleeding. Among the indications, gastro intestinal bleeding comes first, followed by acute blood loss associated with trauma. Whole blood is also included in the massive transfusion protocol.