Conclusion
Jehovah’s Witness patients undergoing cardiac surgery present a unique challenge for clinicians. Good communication with the patient and an MDT approach is required in order to ensure safe and successful treatment. Overall, within the clinical literature, the use of a bloodless protocol for these patients does not appear to significantly impact upon clinical outcomes when compared to non-Witness patients, and it has even been suggested that a bloodless approach could provide advantages to all patients undergoing cardiac surgery. However, further research into the long term outcomes of these patients, especially in larger cohorts and across multiple centres, is still required.
Human studies: No ethical approval required as no patient information was involved in this review