Who Uses Blood Pumps?

[Ensihoitaja]

We carry blood tubing on the ambulance- like this.. It's expected that we'll use it for any patient who might need blood transfused in the ED- trauma and GI bleed patients, for the most part.

Every Front Range Colorado service that I know of carries them too.

I was chatting about them with a partner the other day, and neither one of us had ever seen/used them prior to moving to Colorado. So, does anyone else actually carry/use these?

 

[EpiEMS]

Never seen them in CT (transport times in my area aren't typically longer than 30 min.)

So, let me clarify - these aren't for prehospital blood administration, but rather to speed up ED administration of blood products?

 

[VentMonkey]

We carry them, don't use them though. Rarely, but occasionally some old skool medic and/ or ex-medic turned fire captain may strip one or have their FF strip one from our cabinet for us.

It's been a long time since I've seen that though. My understanding is they're not even compatible with our trauma centers Level 1 warmers at the ED, so unless it's super acute or emergent where they want to run blood through our blood-y's ASAP, they're not all that useful.

 

[Ensihoitaja]

Never seen them in CT (transport times in my area aren't typically longer than 30 min.)

So, let me clarify - these aren't for prehospital blood administration, but rather to speed up ED administration of blood products?

Correct. Denver Health definitely uses them, other hospitals are hit or miss.

 

[Ensihoitaja]

We carry them, don't use them though. Rarely, but occasionally some old skool medic and/ or ex-medic turned fire captain may strip one or have their FF strip one from our cabinet for us.

It's been a long time since I've seen that though. My understanding is they're not even compatible with our trauma centers Level 1 warmers at the ED, so unless it's super acute or emergent where they want to run blood through our blood-y's ASAP, they're not all that useful.

Now that you mention it, I've never seen them used with the Level1 infuser.

 

[Carlos Danger]

We carry blood tubing on the ambulance- like this.. It's expected that we'll use it for any patient who might need blood transfused in the ED- trauma and GI bleed patients, for the most part.

That isn't pump tubing; it's just a plain free-flow blood set. In order to use it with a level 1 you'd have to add the level 1 extension tubing.

Not sure why the expectation is that EMS supplies specialIzed tubing "just in case" the ED needs it?

 

[VentMonkey]

Not sure why the expectation is that EMS supplies specialIzed tubing "just in case" the ED needs it?

Agreed, but like many things that we (collectively) carry on an ambulance, it's quite antiquated.

 

[Tigger]

Some people here are obsessed with them. Can't say I've ever seen the hospital use it though, seems like it's more efficient to just leave one line locked off and waiting.

 

[Ensihoitaja]

That isn't pump tubing; it's just a plain free-flow blood set. In order to use it with a level 1 you'd have to add the level 1 extension tubing.

Not sure why the expectation is that EMS supplies specialIzed tubing "just in case" the ED needs it?

It has a manual pump. It's actually kind of handy for adenosine flushes.

 

[Ensihoitaja]

Some people here are obsessed with them. Can't say I've ever seen the hospital use it though, seems like it's more efficient to just leave one line locked off and waiting.

Oh, to have locks...

The pump fetish isn't as bad as it used to be. "They have abdominal pain? Better spike a blood pump."

 

[NomadicMedic]

Every service I've been at carries blood tubibg. I've never used it.

 

[Carlos Danger]

It has a manual pump. It's actually kind of handy for adenosine flushes.

They actually call those "blood pumps" out there?

 

[E tank]

Every single case I do. Even on cases where I don't expect, for sure, that I'm going to give blood. Always the potential, tho. But we have the bulb type squeezer, not the cylinder type. Those are lousy. I can definitely see using them for trauma activations to facilitate getting blood going more quickly once at the hospital.

Level One's and Belmonts have their own specialized tubing that goes right onto large bore IV's

They're nice for squeezing in volume quickly when needed and, as someone noted, for expediting drug delivery to the heart/brain.

We carry them, don't use them though. Rarely, but occasionally some old skool medic and/ or ex-medic turned fire captain may strip one or have their FF strip one from our cabinet for us.

It's been a long time since I've seen that though. My understanding is they're not even compatible with our trauma centers Level 1 warmers at the ED, so unless it's super acute or emergent where they want to run blood through our blood-y's ASAP, they're not all that useful.

 

[Akulahawk]

Can't say that I've ever used blood tubing with any built-in pumps.

 

[VFlutter]

I have seen the "pump" tubing in the CT-OR, similar to what E tank described, but never outside of that.

 

[Ensihoitaja]

They actually call those "blood pumps" out there?

Yeah, I've never actually heard them called anything else.

 

[TransportJockey]

We call em blood tubing. Carried in NM because it's on the state checkoff sheet. And I carry it here in Texas
I've used them for septic patients too.
Sent from my SM-N920P using Tapatalk

 

[Ensihoitaja]

That isn't pump tubing; it's just a plain free-flow blood set. In order to use it with a level 1 you'd have to add the level 1 extension tubing.

Not sure why the expectation is that EMS supplies specialIzed tubing "just in case" the ED needs it?

So I found out that I was incorrect and the tubing we use is compatible with the Level1 infuser which is a big part of why we still carry them.

 

[DesertMedic66]

We used to carry them but haven't in several years. We did cover and actually practiced how to use them during paramedic school.

 

[EpiEMS]

Carried in NM because it's on the state checkoff sheet.

Tangent here -- I have to say, many of us carry equipment that is either out of scope or no longer standard of care because of this very thing. Up til last year, we were carrying paper bags (yes, for "hyperventilation syndrome") and MAST...