Issuing blood prior to birth
A blood bank colleague asks how other transfusion services handle issuing blood to a newborn during a “crash” delivery when complications for the baby are anticipated. The baby is not yet born and there is no infant sample available for testing. Do you issue the blood under the mother’s medical record number?
ADDENDA April 20, 2012
- The Medical Director of a university hospital transfusion service in Southern California writes, “We have the same issue here. The question is when to create a medical record for the baby. As a matter of policy, we have decided to create the medical record after the baby is born. So at our facility, blood issued for immediate post-partum transfusion is issued under the mother’s medical information.”
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