“The Golden Hour” in Emergency Medicine is the one hour period following traumatic injury. During this period medical intervention can improve the chance of patient survival. For patients suffering from massive hemorrhage during this period, rapid blood transfusions can save lives. Massive hemorrhage is a leading cause of trauma deaths post hospital admission. At Medical City Plano, the average number of trauma patients that require rapid blood product transfusion can average 30-40 patients a month. Historical processes at Medical City Plano relied on using couriers to transport blood by hand from the main laboratory to the ER; this process created challenges and potential delays when blood products were needed rapidly in the ER.
Medical City Plano chose to implement the Haemonetics BloodTrack Emerge system with Helmer Scientific Blood Bank refrigerators to enable faster and more efficient delivery of life-saving blood products to the ER. The BloodTrack Emerge software controls access, and tracks and monitors emergency blood products (O-Neg and/or O-Pos RBCs, plasma, and platelets) in emergency departments or other trauma treatment locations that could require emergency transfusions. As blood products are highly regulated, the BloodTrack Emerge system enables remote storage of blood products because the software helps the hospital extend the quality of the blood bank to other locations throughout the hospital. Maintaining this quality is absolutely critical as blood banks are responsible for reducing waste and meeting strict AABB requirements for the storage and handling of blood products.
