Reduction of fresh-frozen plasma use through a daily survey and education program.

In an attempt to reverse a tendency toward the inordinate use of fresh-frozen plasma (FFP), the Transfusion Committee in a large tertiary care hospital distributed guidelines based on those derived at a Consensus Development Conference at the National Institutes of Health in 1984. In addition, the use of FFP was surveyed daily and supplemented by a one-on-one educational program for the attending and house staffs. In 2 years, these steps resulted in a 77 percent decrease in the number of units of FFP transfused.