platelet shortage

Interesting email this week:

This is a reminder that Thanksgiving is next week. We anticipate severe platelet shortages for the first week of December. Platelet availability will be VERY tight December 1-4. Monday and Tuesday will be the worst days since there will be virtually no blood donations Thursday-Sunday. If you have elective surgeries with high anticipated platelet needs, I would recommend rescheduling for the following week.

I guess I never thought of that, but it makes sense.

Platelet availability is dependent on recent (last 4-5 day) platelet donations. The week immediately after Thanksgiving and the Christmas-New Year holidays are always characterized by platelet shortages due to low whole blood donations in the preceding week.

morning surprise

You think you're going to have a relatively quiet day...

2 thoracic rooms, only 2 cases

one room is a late start, so no having to try to start two rooms at the same time.

Come in... pull up the computer to double check the patient's histories...

Hmmm... double lung transplant.

*sigh* it's a living