Student Diversity Week Reflection

       For Diversity Week, I attended “Transfusion-Free Medicine and Surgery” on Wednesday, from 2:00-2:50. In this presentation, the speaker, a representative from Rhode Island Hospital who is also the program manager, Kevin Wright, introduced ideas and ways that surgeries can be done to limit the unnecessary use of blood transfusions among patients. 


       Blood transfusion is a process that requires the transfer of usually donated blood to a patient during surgery, where blood loss is high. Some ways to limit the amount of blood transfusions that occur include:

• Drawing blood prior to surgery in order to replenish the body with clean, waste-free blood
• Using blood-capturing machines that capture the blood that is lost during surgery 
• Using tubes to fill bags with the blood
• Checking the hemoglobin count of the patient, to make sure that it they actually require a blood transfusion. Some doctors feel it is necessary to give the patient a transfusion, however it is usually not required.

       I learned that we as citizens and essentially patients need to realize that the blood we receive during operations and surgeries is not always clean. Donated blood is not always clean, as they contain wastes from the donor’s bloodstream that is potentially dangerous to the receiving patient. Donations of blood will not always be around, and we as patients need to realize that this is the time to take the steps and precautions to stay as healthy as possible during surgeries and procedural operations.


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Hashem Shehadeh, Guest Contributor, is currently a freshman at the University of Rhode Island pursuing a major in Biological Sciences.