E-Paper
Blood transfusion unrecorded!
IT?S HARD to believe. ?Blood transfusion? in the city hospitals goes unrecorded. Visit blood bank of any government hospital and one will find nothing is documented while blood transfusion is under process.
IT’S HARD to believe. ‘Blood transfusion’ in the city hospitals goes unrecorded.
Visit blood bank of any government hospital and one will find nothing is documented while blood transfusion is under process.
None of the blood banks get back the ‘blood transfusion slips’. These slips are essential if one wants to know what happened to the blood and the recipient (patient) during or after the transfusion.
“Blood transfusion slips are proof if any error has been committed during transfusion of the life saving fluid,” says former president of Provincial Medical Services Association Dr RB Agrawal.
The slip has 10 different columns of clinical status of patient to be filled in three stages, by the transfusing officer. One is to be filled before transfusion and the other is during transfusion. The last one is to be filled sometime after the transfusion is done. The entire slip is then to be returned to the blood bank.
The columns are of general condition, pulse, respiration, temperature, myelgia, chills, rigor, vomitting and allergic reaction of the patient.
In case of problem during transfusion the retaining of slip becomes essential as it denotes any fault in storage process, at the bank.
The state blood bank of King George’s Medical University, one of the major centres for blood, provides over 40 units of blood everyday to the Gandhi memorial and Allied hospitals on the campus and even to patients from other districts.
As per joint director, Ramji Pandey none of the slips given with blood units are returned.
“We request the doctors and patients’ attendants but cannot follow them till the wards to get the slips filled after transfusion,” Pandey said.
Interestingly, the average daily supply of blood from the bank of Balrampur hospital is of just two units. But even then the transfusing officers fail to return the slips.
“If a death occurs out of faulty storage or incorrect transfusion process, it would never be known for there is nothing mentioned about the patient’s condition on the slip,” Agrawal said.
Leaving the transfusion slip unfilled thus saves the transfusing officer from any action even if the patient dies during blood transfusion. The fault of the transfusing officer does not come in black and white.
