Journal article
Estimating blood loss: Comparative study of the accuracy of parents and health care professionals
M Tebruegge, I Misra, A Pantazidou, A Padhye, S Maity, B Dwarakanathan, S Donath, N Curtis, V Nerminathan
Pediatrics | Published : 2009
Abstract
OBJECTIVE: Hematemesis and hematochezia are notuncommonpresenting complaints in children. The amount of blood loss reported by the parent is likely to influence the pediatrician's decision regarding investigations and management. Currently, there are only very limited data regarding the ability of laypersons to estimate blood losses visually. This study investigated the accuracy of parents, in comparison to pediatric health care professionals, in estimating blood loss volumes. PATIENTS AND METHODS: We performed a prospective, single-blinded study including 227 participants, comprising 131 parents, 58 nurses, and 38 doctors. Participants visually estimated the volume of 1 randomly allocated s..
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Funding Acknowledgements
Dr Tebruegge is supported by a Fellowship award from the European Society for Pediatric Infectious Diseases and an International Research Scholarship provided by the University of Melbourne. We thank the parents, nurses, and doctors who kindly participated in this study.