ABSTRACT

Background. Visual blood loss estimation (BLE) is the most common method used globally.

Aim: To evaluate the accuracy of BLE using artificial blood and human blood as well as consider the correlations, if any, between midwife groups and years of clinical experiences.

Methods. In this observational study, 27 scenarios using artificial blood and 21 scenarios using human blood have been addressed to answer the research question. The primary outcome assessed was the accuracy of visual BLE. The accuracy of which was then correlated to the midwife group and the duration of clinical experience using Cramer’s V test.

Results. A total of 232 participants estimated the blood loss volume, and a trend toward overestimation was found in the visual estimation with artificial blood (AB), but when the simulation used human blood (HB), it tended to be underestimated. There were significant correlations between the midwife groups and estimation accuracy with AB at all volumes, but the correlations were only found at volume 100 mL and 150 mL when the simulation was using HB.

Conclusion. Visual BLE may produce overestimated or underestimated results. Midwives’ skills in estimating blood loss in clinical scenarios using artificial blood cannot be representative of their skills in real labor. The duration of clinical experience does not correlate to the accuracy of BLE. We recommend further studies in order to identify another method that can be implemented in general practice.

Keywords: Visual estimation, blood loss volume, artificial blood, human blood, labor