transfusion, and an immediate, life-threatening
transfusion reaction. In a recent blood bank safety
practices survey of 122 clinical laboratories by Grimm
et al, for the College of American Pathologists, it
was found that WBIT occurs in about 4 in every
10,000 samples.
2
Although rare, incompatible
transfusions can cause significant patient morbidity
and mortality. Patient deaths have been reported
with as little as 10 mL of incompatible blood being
transfused.
3
Laboratory staff play a significant role
in preventing transfusion errors by identifying WBIT
and mislabeling errors and rejecting these specimens.
Most errors are discovered during crosschecking
of specimen information on the request forms and
specimen tubes before the pretransfusion testings.
Correct patient identification and prevention of
transfusion errors related to patient misidentification
are both components of the first goal in The Joint
Commission National Patient Safety Goals (TJC
NPSG) for 2011. The purpose of the defined goals is