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Whole blood on ambulances: first two years
Low-Titer O + Whole Blood Implementation in the EMS System for Metropolitan Oklahoma City and Tulsa: Significance, Success, & Sharing Lessons Learned
Prehospital Emergency Care · 2026-10-19 · Added 22 October 2026
The first two years of a prehospital low-titre O-positive whole blood program in Oklahoma (71.6% penetrating trauma) showed significantly improved prehospital vital signs after paramedic transfusion, with improved systolic blood pressure tied to higher survival to hospital arrival.
- Study type
- Cohort
- Design
- Retrospective descriptive observational study
- Participants
- Patients transfused low-titre O-positive whole blood by paramedics across two US cities, Dec 2022–Feb 2025
- Main finding
- Systolic blood pressure, heart rate and shock index improved significantly after transfusion, and improved systolic blood pressure carried 9.7-fold greater odds of survival to hospital arrival
- Caveat
- Descriptive before-after design with no control group, and a predominantly penetrating trauma mix that differs from Australian patterns
- Bottom line
- Context only
Why it matters in Australia (Medium relevance). Prehospital blood is limited to a handful of Australian services, so this program report informs the should-we-carry-blood debate more than current practice.
Learning goal
Strengthen my judgement on when prehospital whole blood transfusion benefits trauma patients with haemorrhagic shock.
More
- Topic: Trauma
- Daily scan: 22 October 2026
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