In response to the situation outlined above, the NHMRC, the Australia & New Zealand Society of Blood Transfusion (ANZSBT) and the National Blood Authority (NBA)^b agreed to develop a series of six patient-focused, evidence-based modules that together will comprise new patient blood management guidelines.

The six modules of the guidelines are being developed in three phases, as shown in Table 1.1.

Table 1.1 Phases of development of guideline modules

Phase	Modules
|	Critical bleeding/massive transfusion Perioperative
||	Medical Critical care
|||	Obstetrics Paediatric/neonatal

^b The structure of the Australian blood sector is outlined in Appendix C