ObjectiveTo evaluate the role of preoperative autologous blood donation in gynecologic surgery.MethodsHospital A, a university hospital, and Hospitals B and C, community hospitals, in Gainesville, Florida were evaluated. Data pertaining to autologous blood donated, transfused, and discarded were obtained. The use and discard rates at the individual hospitals were compared with one another to determine if differences exist in the university versus community hospital setting. Statistical analyses were performed using the Fisher's exact test and the corrected chi-squared test with results considered significant whenP <0.05.ResultsOf the 253 units donated before gynecologic surgery, 26 were transfused compared with 1486 of the 2945 donated for surgeries in all specialties(P< 0.001). Comparisons within each of the individual hospitals revealed a statistically significant difference between overall use and use during gynecologic surgery (Hospital A,P <0.001; Hospital B,P= 0.04; Hospital C,P <0.001). Use of autologous blood during gynecologic surgery at Hospital A was not significantly different than that of Hospital B(P =0.3) or Hospital C(P =0.2).ConclusionPreoperative autologous blood donation is not indicated for most gynecologic surgery patients, regardless of the hospital setting.