From Noblood

January 2, 2007 Issue

This is a draft of the contents for the January issue of the NoBlood Bulletin. Please feel free to edit / comment freely.

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Done!

Did You Know

Brenda McNaughton, please click on this link to post a stub thread in the private NoBlood Team forum. I will copy the final article to this post and move it to the Did You Know Forum. Thanks! :)

Knocking: Jehovah's Witnesses and Blood

Because we at NoBlood are deeply committed to the mission to be a knowledge base and center for resources related to blood conservation, avoidance, and bloodless medicine, we are always on the lookout for unbiased and informative articles and other media that would serve to contribute in a positive way to the community of those pursuing similar interests. NoBlood has been granted permission from the producers of Knocking, an upcoming PBS documentary, to reprint an excerpt from the printed study guide that accompanies the DVD. This excerpt is entitled “Jehovah’s Witnesses and Blood”, and presents an unbiased discussion of the role Jehovah’s Witnesses have played in the development of bloodless medicine. Please note, also, the subheading “Religion and Medicine”, in which it is aptly noted that the Witnesses have not been the only religious group to take exception to certain medical products or treatments.

Prepare Now For a Possible Medical Emergency

Would you like to prepare an Advance Directive (AD) but do not know where to start? Do you have a stock AD or DPA but need to amend it? Have you decided as to which minor fractions and/or medical treatments you are willing to accept but not sure how to express these in your AD? Take a closer look at how our Advance Directive article is developing. In fact, if this subject interests you, subscribe to it with your RSS reader so as to keeps up with its progress. Since last month, we have a variety of individuals participating in the development of this article. There are a variety of expressions that may serve as a basis for completing your AD. Would like to roll your own? Download one that can be easily adapted and printed. Would you like to join in? Please read Get Involved! For further details.

Acute Normovolemic Hemodilution (ANH)

You learned about the Cell Saver in November, the Epidural Blood Patch in December, and now you can add to your growing store of knowledge about different surgical techniques that involve the use or conservation of a patient's own blood. Our current article describes Acute Normovolemic Hemodilution, discusses how it was developed, what it is, how it is done, some of the pros and cons of its use, and some modified ways it can be used for certain patient populations. Find out why there is controversy among anesthesiologists over whether this technique really is worth using, or not. Learn whether it may be right for you, should you be considering surgery involving possible considerable blood loss. NoBlood is pleased to offer its readers another in an informative series of articles on blood conservation and bloodless management strategies.

Collaborate with bloodless health care professionals... privately

Are you a bloodless health care professional with a burning question and would like to discuss it with other health care professionals from around the world… privately? Would you like to conveniently participate with various teams engaged in the development of this Site? If so, you are welcome to submit a subscription request with any of the mailing lists listed below. See description and member requirements noted with each list.

Bloodless Medicine and Surgery Road Map

Since last month's NoBlood Bulletin, in which our Roadmap made its debut, the Editorial Team has spent quite a bit of time updating the categories of information you can locate during your exploration of NoBlood's various Forums and the Wiki. The intent of this feature is to make it increasingly easy to find a topic you want information about. We have included as many medical conditions, techniques, medications and treatments here as we could think of to date. What YOU can do is click here, look over the categories, and then ADD to the list any category you think is needed to make our Map more complete. In order to add items, just click on the "Edit" tab at the top of the Wiki page containing the Map (above the Title line). Add your input, revise existing entries, correct spelling errors - and then click the "Save Page" bar below the editing window. Voila! You are a NoBlood editor! Anyone can do it (we especially invite our health care personnel to dive in and give this a try). Help us expand and perfect our Bloodless Medicine and Surgery Roadmap.

Unanswered Questions

A hallmark of our community is the willingness to jump in to help others. I am happy to say that almost all questions that are posted to our professionals are being responded to. Take a look at the variety of topics and issues being discussed: Ask a Professional forum

Article Summary

You are a young, impoverished, expectant mother living in an African country that has very limited medical services, and those that exist are very far from your village. You are feeling contractions every 2-3 minutes. The village midwife is there with you to help you deliver your baby. With much effort you deliver a very big baby boy, and you are happy...but after you deliver the placenta, the midwife is concerned. She gives you a pill and massages your uterus very hard. You are still bleeding...a lot. She is now looking very worried. She gives you some herbs and massages the uterus some more. No change in your bleeding. You are starting to feel lightheaded and dizzy. The blood will not stop flowing. Now you are worried, too. There is no doctor to come to help you. Your young husband, who has been waiting outside your mud brick house, is called in. The midwife shakes her head, and hands the baby to him. He knows something bad is happening. There is little else to be done...

This scenario is all too common in the developing world, and not so infrequent in countries like ours. In the linked article, you can find out about a low-tech rubber suit that could very well save this mother's life until she can be brought to see the doctor at nearest medical clinic, a day's walk away.

Spotlight

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Public Site Feedback

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NoBlood Technical Team

Douglas Phillips

New Mailing List Format

You probably noticed the new format of our mailing list. We've made a number of changes that we feel will make your experience better for a number of reasons, including:

• Text-based format downloads faster and is easier to read
• We're using a new mailing list program that should cut down or eliminate problems with spam filters marking the bulletin as spam.

Call for Submissions

Jan Grossberg

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Medicines Containing Blood Products

Our top 30 pages

In order to serve you better, it helps to understand what our users find interesting. We have taken a snapshot of 30 most viewed pages at NoBlood during the first 27 days of December of 2006.