The new hemotherapy guideline

Abstract

The 2017 update of the German guidelines on hemotherapy is highly associated with the drug legislation and guidelines and thus necessitated anew structure of the contents. These guidelines reflect the state of the art for collection and application of blood and blood components corresponding to the Transfusion Act and is therefore the main document in hemotherapy. Topics of high interest in this 2017 update related to application of blood products are clarification and consent of patients, obligation for documentation, information, reporting and notification reports in the case of transfusion reactions and detailed description of quality management and quality assurance, as well as task description of persons responsible for the organization or implementation of transfusion-associated workflows. Surveillance, collating and management of errors are important prerequisites for the continuous optimization of patient safety. Patient blood management (PBM) as a requirement for the efficient use of blood products and the controlled and economical usage of autologous hemotherapy procedures (e. g. mechanical autotransfusion, MAT) are measures to reduce the need for blood products. All medical specialist societies, which carry out hemotherapy and participate in the standing committee of the Federal Medical Council (BÄK) to revise the hemotherapy guidelines have to take care that the guidelines are understandable for medical doctors and the transfusion team. Additionally, the core principles of hemotherapy have to be described in aclear and distinct manner.