Comments by "SmallSpoonBrigade" (@SmallSpoonBrigade) on "How ex-military surgeons are pushing for laws allowing ambulances to carry blood" video.

I doubt it would go to waste. I could be wrong, but I'd assume that AB blood goes to AB patients first, and if they don't have any of that, then they go with O blood of the appropriate type.
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They have, it just depends where you're living. Around here the medics have blood to transfuse and have had for years. I'd expect it to spread, but the amount of blood needed does require a temporary diversion of blood to the program, after that, it should be a relatively minor amount to replace any that is spoiled in some way. But, most of the blood being transfused is going to be the blood that would have been transfused in the ER anyways. So, it's mostly a wash in that regards.
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As a non-professional, my immediate assumption, blood is in perpetual short supply still. Perhaps in the future with medical advances we may have synthetic blood that's close enough that this would be a reasonable thing to do. But, it would probably make far more sense to develop drone technology to drop the appropriate blood off either at the accident scene or to the ambulance as it's en route to the hospital.
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@Killer_Turnip King County, WA, USA has been giving blood to the medic one units for about 6 years at this point. Which obviously includes a period of extreme low supply due to the pandemic and they're still at it. A lot of it has to do with the fact that they serve not just Seattle, but also the rest of the county where it can take a while to get to the patient and then for the patient to get back to a hospital.
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@johnkitners9386 Around here the medics have had the blood for about 6 years. I would imagine that as the problem is better understood that more areas will require it for at least some units.
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@cruisinguy6024 Around here we separate the ambulances from our medic trucks. The medics are literal ICU doctors that ride around going from site to site to stabilize people for transport. I don't know if they carry any blood with them, but it would make sense for them to have some on hand as they aren't going to be going as long without needing it and they're going to be called any time there's an accident that's significant enough to have that amount of bleeding.
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Keep in mind that as long as the blood is being rotated, this shouldn't increase the need by much, if anything. The blood actually being used would be shifted from the hospital to the medics or paramedics. The blood that's not being used, would get rotated back to the hospital. It would take time to build the supply, but then you'd also have extra on hand in case of a natural disaster. The other logistical issues are a much bigger deal.
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@RandiSchaefer-uw2su Yep, around here the medics have blood with them, but they're also in a relatively urban area. A smaller town might just designate somebody to get the unit from the hospital and start driving to meet up with the ambulance along the way. (Obviously, starting a transfusion, even if the needle is already in, is probably going to necessitate stopping for a bit)
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Here in WA, we've apparently had blood for the medic one program for years. Basically ER doctors attached to the fire department that go to the scene of the accident and stabilize patients for transport to the ICU. I'd be surprised if laws don't change as the understanding of how to run this part of the program improves and changes are made to ease the blood shortages.
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That's why you wouldn't do that. You'd just give the blood to the ambulances that are specifically designated to stabilize patients for transport. Patients in that condition need more care anyways, so just give the folks that are trained for that the blood to do the transfusion. It takes the number of vehicles that need to be supplied from thousands to only a few hundred for a major city.
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And some folks are barred from giving for reasons that are no longer relevant. It's also a matter of bureaucracy.
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Around here our medic one program has been carrying blood for transfusion for about 6 years. We were the first place in the world to routinely send actual ER doctors out on calls for critical care directly to patients in need of stabilizing prior to transport. So, this is probably going to spread through the US eventually, but the blood supply is rather limited, so it probably will just be select units for the time being.
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It depends where you are. In this portion of the US, the medics do bring blood whenever they respond to a call. And apparently they've been doing so for about 6 years.
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@eepinwillow For now, I don't know that it's going to be that much longer before they can take O+ blood and covert it into O-. That would make a pretty significant improvement.
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It's unlikely to cause problems with the shortage. The issue likely would be simply building up the supply to do it. Once the vehicles are stocked, the blood would be rotated in and out of the vehicles, and the blood that is actually administered should be mostly the blood that would have been administered in the hospital anyways. The other issues with logistics are more likely to be a problem.
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