The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) Blood Panel exists to promote interoperability of transfusion practice between NATO partners. However, it has served as an important forum for the development of prehospital transfusion and transfusion in the austere environment. There are synergies with the trauma hemostasis and oxygen research community especially in the areas of innovation and research. Four presentations are summarized together with a review of some scientific principles. The past decade has already seen significant changes in early transfusion support. Sometimes practice has preceded the evidence and has stretched regulatory and logistic constraints. Ethical and philosophical issues are also important and require us to question "should we" and not just "could we." The challenge for the combined communities is to continue to optimize transfusion support underpinned by evidence-based excellence.

Commander Netherlands Military Blood Bank SBB Consultant in Transfusion Medicine Amsterdam the Netherlands

Department of Military Anaesthesia and Critical Care Royal Centre for Defence Medicine Birmingham UK

Director US Army Blood Program JBSA Fort Sam Houston Texas

Main Consultant for Hematology and Blood Transfusion Military Medical Service Army of Czech Republic Prague Czech Republic

NHS Blood and Transplant Birmingham UK and Centre of Defence Pathology RCDM Queen Elizabeth Hospital Birmingham UK

Norwegian Military Medical Service Oslo Norway

Citace poskytuje Crossref.org