Bloodless medicine and surgery in the OR and beyond.(operating room)

Bloodless surgery is a term that has evolved from describing a protocol of merely avoiding the use of transfused blood to describing a concept that incorporates the use of advanced technologies, specific institutional policies, and changes in the knowledge and attitudes of staff members. In the past, bloodless surgery was performed on patients who refused blood transfusions, typically Jehovah's Witnesses whose religion forbids the transfusion of blood and many blood products. Patients' choices often were not respected because it was believed that these patients were at risk of…