Transfusion
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A three-part study to determine the reasons for fresh-frozen plasma (FFP) transfusions at hospitals in southeastern Wisconsin was conducted. During a 1-month period, hospital transfusion services reported that patients undergoing open-heart surgery received 42 percent, medical patients 26 percent, noncardiac surgery patients 23 percent, neonatal patients 1 percent, and other patients 7 percent of the FFP transfused. In the second phase of the study, the records of 102 patients receiving FFP during a 1-month period at two teaching hospitals were reviewed. ⋯ They judged that the FFP transfusion was effective in 47 percent of transfusion episodes and ineffective in only 6 percent. These findings indicate that FFP is used mainly as a source of coagulation factor replacement in hospitals served by The Blood Center of Southeastern Wisconsin, that justification for FFP use rarely is provided in patient records, that both FFP and RBCs are frequently transfused together, and that clinicians believe FFP is beneficial for their patients. Educational efforts addressing appropriate use of FFP should be initiated.