WOMACK ARMY MEDICAL CENTER, FORT BRAGG, N.C. – Womack Army Medical Center is developing the capability to deliver low titer Group O whole blood as an option in select emergency situations for patients who have suffered severe trauma and blood loss.
Whole blood is blood drawn from a donor where none of the components, such as plasma or platelets, has been separated. The goal is that by summer 2020, Womack will have this capability.
“The whole blood program will allow Womack to more easily give balanced resuscitation through transfusion of blood products to people that have been traumatically injured,” explained Lt. Col. Brendan Graham, the medical director of the Fort Bragg Blood Donor Center and Transfusion Services.
Although using whole blood has been used by the military since the second World War, it is no longer commonly used in non-military health systems. Now, research is supporting whole blood may be a viable option for emergency situations involving traumatically injured patients, and the medical field is taking notice.
Currently, Womack is the second military treatment facility that will participate in the program.
“We already provide whole blood products for selects units here on Fort Bragg,” said Shannon Grovenger, a medical technologist supervisor at Womack.
Introducing whole blood at the medical center level involves deliberate planning and a collaboration with federal, state, and local stakeholders.
Research shows that 30 minutes is the time window to resuscitate a patient from a blunt trauma injury or gunshot wound to the chest where the death can be prevented with medical intervention.
Studies have shown that people who have been traumatically injured will have a better outcome if they received a balanced resuscitation through blood products early.
Although more research on whole blood is still developing, most in the medical field see it as a promising development.
The thinking, Graham explained, up until this point it’s been logistically impossible to have all of those products at the point of injury.
“Introducing whole blood into our practice and ultimately into the North Carolina critical care transport system demonstrates an effective means to make readily available whole blood for our expeditionary Army,” says Col. John Melton, the Womack Army Medical Center commander.
Soon, trauma patients that Womack cares for will have access to whole blood if they need it resulting in better outcomes and survivability.