BRIDGEPORT – Bridgeport Hospital has launched lifesaving prehospital blood transfusion program, where regional Emergency Medical Services (EMS) agencies are equipped with the tools and education necessary for paramedics to administer blood transfusions directly in their ambulances at the point of care.
“When assessing and treating bleeding patients, every second matters,” said Doug Latham, EMS medical director for Bridgeport Hospital. “The ability to transfuse blood prior to arriving at the hospital improves patient outcomes by addressing hemorrhagic shock during the most critical time, stabilizing patients until they arrive at the hospital for ongoing treatment and mitigating the effects of severe blood loss in critically injured and/or bleeding patients.”
Paramedics approved by one of the hospital’s sponsored agencies must complete the Bridgeport Hospital Initial Blood Transfusion Training Program and maintain their transfusion authorization status through mandatory annual training. The Bridgeport Hospital Blood Bank will provide EMS teams, as available, with one unit of group O-positive low-titer whole blood or red blood cells for use in the field. The EMS team will store the whole blood in a monitored storage unit on their vehicle.
“Launching this program is just one more way we’re advancing our mission to care for our community, especially in the most critical moments,” said Anne Diamond, DBA, JD, president of Bridgeport Hospital. “It helps us to extend our care beyond the walls of our hospital and is a testament to the truly collaborative relationships between the hospital and our regional EMS agencies.”
This program is a collaboration with Bridgeport Hospital’s EMS partners from Bridgeport AMR, Trumbull EMS and Stratford EMS, who have committed to partnering with the hospital to provide access to EMS field blood transfusions.
Bridgeport Hospital, part of Yale New Haven Health, is a non-profit 501-bed acute care hospital with two campuses (plus 42 beds licensed to Yale New Haven Children’s Hospital).
