Blood transfusion: What are the care and risk factors, all you need to know

With the wrong blood group transfusion, two patients have lost their lives at a hospital in Odisha’s Keonjhar district. According to reports, a probe has been ordered for alleged negligence by the two technicians and hospital attendants. Here are some things that need to be considered for blood transfusion practice.

The process of blood transfusion helps in replacing the blood loss due to surgery or medical conditions. According to a study published in National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI), red blood cell transfusions are generally performed with the intention to increase arterial oxygen content followed by oxygen delivery to the tissues.

Before doing blood transfusions, tests are carried out that show the compatibility of the transfused blood. While doing a blood transfusion, a small needle is placed in the vein wherein blood gets transferred, while the medical staff monitors all the vitals when the transfusion is done, as the process takes 4 hours to complete, but could be done faster in emergency cases.

What are the risks involved in transfusion?

According to experts, the most critical thing in case you receive incompatible blood is that your body starts producing antibodies to destroy the donor’s blood, which is also called a transfusion reaction.

During transfusion reaction, a person could suffer from hives, itching, fever and in severe cases lung injury could happen along with acute kidney injury due to hemolytic reaction.

How can I prevent such mishappenings?

In such cases, it is very important to retest and double check the details of blood before every transfusion. Also, make sure that the donor and recipient details are accurate and provided with evidence. Most importantly it is necessary to correctly label items in storage.

Once the transfusion is complete, there may be an ache in the arm or little bruising on the transfusion site.