West Moreton Health's Dr Akmez Latona is shaping as a key figure in the future of blood transfusion care across Queensland.
A Staff Specialist in Emergency Medicine at Ipswich Hospital, Dr Latona (pictured) has received more than $34,000 from the Emergency Medicine Fund to run his project, 'Do Clinicians Need Both Clauss and PT-Derived Fibrinogen? A Comparative Evaluation in Bleeding Management'.
Fibrinogen is a key protein that helps blood to clot and stop bleeding.
When a patient with bleeding arrives in the emergency department, doctors check their coagulation profile to measure fibrinogen levels. This guides decisions about giving treatments that replace fibrinogen and control bleeding.
In Queensland, the standard coagulation profile reports two different fibrinogen results. One is Fib C and the other is Fib D.
Currently, there can be confusion amongst clinicians about which result to use when making transfusion decisions.
This study will review all coagulation profiles performed in Queensland Health hospitals over the past five years to compare Fib D and Fib C results and how closely they match.
This project has the potential to improve decision-making, reduce confusion and enhance the safety and quality of transfusion care in Queensland.
Dr Latona was also recently awarded the Jamieson Trauma Institute Cliff Pollard Award for his research.
Dr Latona’s research was described as “practical, impactful, and well-positioned to improve transfusion safety across Queensland”.
Dr Latona is featured in the latest edition of West Moreton Health's quarterly research newsletter, Research Online News.