Before a transfusion:
- Is a pre medication required?
- Do you have sufficient resources to manage the transfusion?
- Overnight transfusions in particular are discouraged unless clinically urgent or in a high-resource area eg theatre, ICU, APU. Errors are more likely at night, monitoring is more difficult and the patient becomes sleep-deprived.
- Are there any other special requirements? (eg CMV negative or irradiated)
- Has consent been obtained? (more info on consent)
- Has suitable venous access been obtained?
- Has the component been checked against the patient?
- The patient has stated his/her name him/herself
- The patient's wristband has been checked against the unit's label
- Identification details on the blood component and label match the identity of the patient
- The unit's blood group is compatibility with the patient's blood group (on the compatibility label) (see component's details for compatibility)
- A second person has independently confirmed this check at the bedside
- For more detail, see Bedside Checking.
Compatible Intravenous Solutions
- Use only 0.9% Saline.
- DO NOT use 5% Dextrose solutions (may induce haemolysis)
- DO NOT use Lactated Ringer's or other balanced salt solutions that contain Calcium, as this may induce clot formation in the blood bag and / or administration set.
- Never add medications to blood components and products.
- Never piggyback a blood transfusion onto another line containing medication.
More Info