When TACO Isn’t on the Menu: Preventing Tacos and Finding the Reactions We’re Missing

Proposed Session Description: This session will explore the challenges associated with underreporting of transfusion reactions, particularly those that can be severe , such as Transfusion-Associated Circulatory Overload (TACO), and demonstrate cost-effective means to improve reaction identification and reporting to improve transfusion safety.
The first half of the session will outline the importance of clinician education and engagement, and the real-life experience of implementing a TACO scoring system and associated prevention strategies, available via the electronic health record at a university hospital. Examples will highlight the benefits and drawbacks of these implemented changes.
The second half of the session will focus on a real-life example of how retrospective datasets can easily identify serious and potentially underreported transfusion reactions such as TACO. Example cases will be presented to show how identifying unreported reactions improve the clinical management of the patient. The faculty member will also discuss what workflows have been put in place in the multi-hospital system to process the outcomes and implement practice changes.