Some California hospitals may have to delay surgeries because of a national blood shortage, ABC30 News, an ABC station in Fresno, Calif., reported April 20.
James Davis, MD, chief of trauma at UCSF Fresno, told the station that his hospital has recently seen a rise in trauma patients and a decrease in blood donations.
"It's an ongoing sometimes hour-by-hour process to make sure that the supplies on hand are adequate for what you are doing," he said.
In normal times, UCSF Fresno has 80 to 100 units of blood at all times, the station reported. As of April 20, it had about 30 units.
"We could literally have people die because we run out of blood," Dr. Davis told ABC30 News.
Deanette Sisson, MSN, chief nursing officer at St. Agnes Medical Center in Fresno, told the station that the hospital was prepared to delay surgery April 19 if it hadn't been able to get a little more of its blood products in time.
Both hospitals said they have had to use pop-up blood drives to collect blood from their staff to make up for supply shortages.
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