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Article: Bloodless medicine and surgery in the OR and beyond.(operating room)
- Article from:
- AORN Journal
- Article date:
- November 1, 2002
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2002 Association of Operating Room Nurses, Inc. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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Bloodless surgery is a term that has evolved from describing a protocol of merely avoiding the use of transfused blood to describing a concept that incorporates the use of advanced technologies, specific institutional policies, and changes in the knowledge and attitudes of staff members. In the past, bloodless surgery was performed on patients who refused blood transfusions, typically Jehovah's Witnesses whose religion forbids the transfusion of blood and many blood products. Patients' choices often were not respected because it was believed that these patients were at risk of dying unless they received blood. Coercion often was used to convince patients that transfusions ...