William Aird: Developing Patient-Facing Educational Material for The Blood Project
William Aird, Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School, shared a post on LinkedIn:
“We have been developing patient-facing educational material for The Blood Project, and one recurring theme is that common hematologic findings are often not dangerous, but they are often poorly explained.
Thalassemia trait is a good example.
Many patients are told they ‘have thalassemia’ without a clear explanation of what that means.
They may worry that they have a serious blood disease, that they will become ill, or that they need treatment.
It is common.
It is usually benign.
And it is often poorly explained.
Thalassemia trait is not a disease in the usual sense.
It is a common inherited hemoglobin variant, found at high frequency in parts of the world where malaria has exerted powerful evolutionary pressure.
For the individual carrier, it may cause small red blood cells and sometimes mild anemia, but it usually does not cause symptoms or require treatment.
What it does require is explanation.
Patients need to know:
- this is inherited, not acquired
- it is not iron deficiency
- iron should not be given unless iron deficiency is actually present
- family planning may matter if a partner also carries a hemoglobin variant
- the CBC may look ‘abnormal’ even when the patient is well
In other words, the problem is often not the trait.
The problem is the explanation.
We created this short patient-facing guide for The Blood Project to help clinicians and patients have a clearer conversation.”
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