Notification of Patients of Transfusion of Blood
and/or Blood Products
1.0Principle
National Standards require that there be written notification of transfusion to all recipients receiving blood and/or blood components.9.3
2.0Scope and Related Policies
2.1All patients who have received a transfusion will be notified that they have received blood and/or blood products.9.3
2.2Notification card (NC) A.002F or like facsimile will be used for this purpose.
2.3One card will be issued per patient per year (outpatients) or per admission (inpatients), or more frequently as determined by hospital policy or Transfusion Committee. See Procedural Notes 8.0 for some potential exceptions.
3.0Specimens – N/A
4.0Materials
Supplies: Computer or manual record of transfused blood/products
Notification of Transfusion (A.002F)
5.0Quality Control – N/A
6.0Procedures
Patients will be notified of receipt of blood/blood product transfusions in the following manner.
6.1When the first unit blood/blood product is issued for an encounter/admission a notification of transfusion form will be filled out by the issuer and sent with the blood product to the ward.
6.2The NC will be given to the patient by their nurse and the remainder of the form will be filed in the patient’s medical record.
6.3Record of sending this notification will be noted on the patient’s Transfusion file record either in the computer or manually.
6.4TML will be responsible for mailing out notification to patients if discharged prior to receiving their card (if the ward returns the card stating that the patient was discharged prior to issuing the card) and for all Autologous patients receiving homologous blood/blood products.
6.5Mailing of the NC will be recorded manually or by computer on the patient transfusion record.
7.0Reporting – N/A
8.0Procedural Notes
8.1OPERATING ROOM (OR)
Cards should not be sent to the operating rooms. When OR blood is cancelled or record of transfusion is confirmed the person cancelling will be responsible for sending the NC to the Nursing unit to which the patient returned. This also applies to ‘cool box’ issues to Emergency and Delivery.
8.2Out-Patient units where long term treatments involve ongoing transfusions, e.g., MDCU, oncology, dialysis, sickle/thalessemia clinics:
8.2.1One card will be issued at a minimum of once per year.
8.2.2The comment on the Transfusion Record will be clearly marked to show that the NC has been sent. For example: 02/12/12 15:39 NC sent.
9.0References
9.1Interim Report Recommendations, Appendix H, Chapter 9: Commission of Inquiry on the Blood System in Canada, The Honorable Mr Justice Horace Krever, 1997.
9.2CAN/CSA Z902-04 Blood and Blood Components, Mississauga, ON: Canadian Standards Association, 2004.
9.3Standards for Hospital Transfusion Services, Version 2 – September 2007, Ottawa, ON: Canadian Society for Transfusion Medicine, 2007: 1.10.
/ Ontario Regional Blood Coordinating NetworkStandard Work Instruction Manual / A.002
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