In our hospital, request form with patient details are required to ensure patients are positively identified and details on wristband match with request form before bleed patients.

A few months ago, printed BT request forms can be generated instead of hand written ones. We notice some of the G&S samples are taken 15-20 minutes earlier than the request form generate time. We reject these samples because these patients are not identified against request forms.

As JPAC website4.7: Pre-transfusion blood samplingMisidentification at blood sampling may lead to fatal ABO-incompatible blood transfusion, especially if the patient has not previously had their blood group documented. Inadequately or mislabelled samples carry a significantly increased risk of containing blood from the wrong patient. Risk of misidentification may be reduced by electronic systems, but all sampling should be carried out in line with the following principles by trained and competent staff:

  • Patients must be positively identified and their details must match those on the request form.

BT lab has lot of pressure from clinicians arguing during emergency handwritten or printed request form before sampling is not practical or possible.

Is request form a requirement to identify a patient before transfusion sampling?
Are there any clear guidelines or protocols to refer to?

Don't think the BSH guidelines of 'Administration of blood components' clarify the issue.