Bloodless medicine among jehovah's patients in Nigeria

Abstract

Designed to evaluate the management and outcome measures applicable to patient who refuse blood transfusion in our environment. All 30 Jehovah's Witness patients managed by us over a 9 – year period were reviewed. The necessary information was obtained from the medical records. Fourteen of the patients were perfected on as emergencies, five of them had would infection and one had complete wound dehiscence. Five were medical emergencies. One that was admitted with pulmonary oedema died. All the other patients were discharged from the hospital and left for home in satisfactory condition.the study concludes that most of these patients who refuse blood transfusion can be managed with prevention of sepsis. Elective cases can be delayed to optimize the hemoglobin levels and plan the surgical procedure.

Keywords: Bloodless Medicine among Jehovah's Patients in Nigeria

Journal of Biomedical Investigation Vol. 3 (1) 2005: pp. 6-10