Are we all guilty of under-estimating intra-operative blood loss during hip fracture surgery?

AimTo assess how accurately orthopaedic surgeons and anaesthesiologists estimate intraoperative blood loss during hip fracture surgery as part of the Surgical Safety Checklist (SCC).MethodsA prospective study of 55 operations over 9 months. Pre- and post-operative estimations of blood loss were documented. Actual blood loss was determined by subtracting total amount of lavage fluid used from overall volumes in the suction bag and by weighing used swabs.ResultsBoth, surgeons and anaesthesiologists, significantly underestimated intraoperative blood loss (p < 0.001).ConclusionRather than numerical estimates, a more useful question within the SSC may therefore be: “Is excessive blood loss expected?”