Creation of a new hospital service for iron therapy.

Iron deficiency anemia is one of the widespread forms of anemia worldwide with important consequences on public health in general and in the management of the hospital blood supply in particular. In this context we decided to "de novo"organize a new hospital service specifically dedicated to iron therapy to correctly diagnose iron deficiency anemia and support patients with the latest generation of i.v. iron formulation. We describe the organizational and educational solutions we adopted to start the new service. The initial results in terms of safety, increase in Hb value, and RBC units saved were encouraging and it has led us to expand the categories of patients to be supported.