This literature review revealed that this practice had begun in the 1950s, and was an outgrowth of less-than-reliable studies that were accepted at the time but that are questionable now in terms of their methodologies and scope. The fact that no substantive studies conducted in more recent years have been able to substantiate the findings of these half-century-old studies is a strong indicator that the practices recommended by the earlier studies are not necessarily effective and could potentially be harmful.
Armed with this information, it was possible to engage in the design and implementation of an evidence-based change to practice. Using a well-established model for this process,...
Specifically, it was determined that head medical nad nursing staff should be made aware of the inefficacies of the current practices, and that the suggestion of using antipyretic medications as pre-transfusion prophylactics would be a better use of hospital resources. Though no implementation of this designed change in practice was actually achieved, methods for evaluating the outcome of change implementation were hypothesized. Through enforcement of the change and standard record keeping, the benefits (if any) of switching meications could easily be determined.
