NoBlood

http://societywebsite.com/ABC/WhoWeAre.htm

The Association For Blood Conservation (ABC) is dedicated to building collaborative relationships to provide education and shape professional practice in the field of blood conservation.

Originally The National Association For Bloodless Medicine and Surgery (NABMS) was founded to expedite the care of patients who were unable or unwilling to accept blood or blood products. The core of this organization was a network of coordinators from various Bloodless Medicine and Surgery Programs around the country who kept current with concepts and technologies that facilitated the care of these patients. Over time physicians learned to care for patients with extreme anemia with surprisingly good results. This coupled with concerns about the availability and at times the safety of blood as well as emerging technologies via industry led to further research into the management of anemia. Evidence based medicine, economics, availability and industry are now synergistically remolding our thoughts regarding the management of anemia. It is now becoming apparent that patients managed with more conservative strategies of transfusion do better than those that are more liberally transfused. As a result NABMS underwent a metamorphosis to ABC, recognizing that applying the principles of Bloodless Medicine and Surgery could benefit patients in general.

Our organization has been instrumental in promoting blood conservation on virtually every continent. We have expanded our organizational structure and are building collaborative relationships to accommodate the myriad of issues facing this new paradigm in health care. We have developed standards for care and an accreditation process for programs that wish to demonstrate proficiency in the care of patients who prefer not to be exposed to blood unnecessarily or who are unable to accept blood.