Report from AmSECT’s International Consortium for Evidence-Based Perfusion: American Society of Extracorporeal Technology Standards and Guidelines for Perfusion Practice: 2013

One of the roles of a professional society is to develop standards and
guidelines of practice as an instrument to guide safe and effective
patient care. The American Society of Extracorporeal Technology (AmSECT) first published its Essentials for Perfusion Practice, Clinical Function: Conduct of Extracorporeal
Circulation in 1993. The International Consortium for Evidence-Based
Perfusion (ICEBP), a committee within AmSECT, was tasked with updating
this document in 2010. The aim of this report is to describe the method
of development and content of AmSECT’s new professional standards and
guidelines. The ICEBP committee independently evaluated and provided
input regarding the current “Essentials and Guidelines.” Structural
changes were made to the entire document, and a draft document was
developed, presented, and circulated to the AmSECT Board of Directors
and broader membership for comment. Informed by these reviews, a revised
document was then presented to the Society for a membership vote. The
final document consists of 15 areas of practice covered by 50 Standards
and 38 Guidelines (see Appendix 1) with the first standard focusing on
the development of institutional protocols to support their
implementation and use. A majority of the membership voted to accept the
document (81.2% of the voting membership accepting, 18.8% rejecting).
After an audit of the balloting process by AmSECT’s Ethics Committee,
the results were reported to the membership and the document was
officially adopted on July 24, 2013. The Standards and Guidelines will
serve as a useful guide for cardiac surgical teams that wish to develop
institution-specific standards and guidelines to improve the
reliability, safety, and effectiveness of adult cardiopulmonary bypass.
The ICEBP recognizes that the development of a Standards and Guidelines
statement alone will not change care. Safe, reliable, and effective care
will be best served through the development and implementation of
institutional protocols based on these standards. AmSECT’s Standards and
Guidelines for Perfusion Practice reflect the changing landscape of our
profession as we work toward a safer and optimal provision of
cardiopulmonary bypass for all our patients as well as a work
environment that is supportive of delivering this care. Keywords:
standards, guidelines, cardiopulmonary bypass, perfusion, cardiac
surgery.