Effect of a flow chart on use of blood transfusions in primary total hip and knee replacement: prospective before and after study

In this quality improvement report by Muller and colleagues (BMJ 2004;328:934-8) a misunderstanding during editing led to an error in reporting the authors' methods. In the third paragraph of the section “Strategy for change,” the correct text should read, “We provided [not obtained] feedback twice during routine staff meetings” and “We presented [not determined] the proportion of patients who had received allogenic or autologous blood transfusion after total joint replacement.” Technology led to a further slip, this time at proof stage. At the end of the fourth paragraph of the section “Effects of change,” a confusion caused by “track changes” resulted in the misrepresentation of an increase in units of transfused blood. The correct increase in units of transfused blood in Zurich should be from 52 700 to 60 600 (+15%) [not plus/minus 15%].