AB244. The prevalence of intra operative cell salvage in Irish Hospitals

Background: Perioperative cell salvage is a technique that avoids many of the complications of blood transfusion. Recent guidelines recommend the widespread availability of 24 hour cell salvage in any hospital undertaking surgery other than minor/day case procedures. We conducted a survey of hospitals in Ireland in order to determine the prevalence of access to cell salvage. We also assessed whether out-of-hours cell salvage access was in place.

Methods: Public and private hospitals in the Republic of Ireland that carried out surgery were included, other than minor or day case surgery. A short questionnaire was circulated to members of the respective anaesthesia departments. We aimed to establish the number of hospitals in which cell salvage was present, that met the recommended 24-hour cell salvage access and whether there was an identified cell salvage lead.

Results: Of the hospitals that returned the questionnaire, 72% had cell salvage equipment on site. These hospitals were predominantly large tertiary public hospitals. Relatively few private hospitals that returned the questionnaire had access to cell salvage. Of note several tertiary hospitals with on-site vascular surgery did not have cell salvage. With the exception of sites where cardiacthoracic surgery took place, in few hospitals was there guaranteed 24-hour cell salvage access.

Conclusions: Cell salvage equipment is widely present in hospitals in Ireland. With exceptions, recent recommendations for 24-hour cell salvage access are not yet in place. More work is needed to meet the introduction of a competence-based training programme for all involved staff.

Keywords: Blood salvage; anaesthesia; questionnaire