[Kristi Lee]

1. What are the necessary components of a physician's order for transfusion therapy?

2. Give rationale for why fresh frozen plasma is given and how it is infused?

3. Why are platelets transfused in a short tubing?

Can anyone answer these for me? I have searched in my med-surg book and it doesn'tprovide answers to these questions.

Thanks!

[Gompers]

I don't work Med-Surg, I'm in the NICU, but here's my answers...

1. Physician needs to order what blood product they want, how much, and over how long the transfusion should run.

2. Fresh frozen plasma is given when the blood clotting factors (PT, PTT, fibrinogen) are low.

3. Platelets are transfused QUICKLY (over less than 30 minutes) through short tubing so that they don't clot before getting to the patient. If you go to blood bank, you'll see the platelets being constantly rotated for the same reason - to prevent clotting.


And just FYI, here are a few things that are very important for nurses to do when a blood transfusion is ordered:

1. Make sure there is a signed consent for blood products in the patient's chart.

2. When you get the blood product from blood bank, double check it out loud with another RN against the patient's hospital band and type & screen band.

3. Do frequent vital signs according to your hospital's transfusion policy.

[Kristi Lee]

thank you so much for your help. Is fresh frozen plasma transfused quickly also or is it transfused differently?

[Gompers]

Originally Posted by Kristi Lee

thank you so much for your help. Is fresh frozen plasma transfused quickly also or is it transfused differently?

We tranfuse plasma over the same amount of time as regular blood. Platelets are the only thing that we tranfuse rapidly. Other places may be different though.

[Angie O'Plasty, RN]

Thanks Gompers, I learned something new here. I didn't know that about the platelets being rotated!

Of course in hindsight, it makes all kinds of sense.

I always had trouble remembering which runs faster, plates or FFP, and now I won't.

[RemoteRN]

Originally Posted by Gompers

I don't work Med-Surg, I'm in the NICU, but here's my answers...

1. Physician needs to order what blood product they want, how much, and over how long the transfusion should run.

2. Fresh frozen plasma is given when the blood clotting factors (PT, PTT, fibrinogen) are low.

3. Platelets are transfused QUICKLY (over less than 30 minutes) through short tubing so that they don't clot before getting to the patient. If you go to blood bank, you'll see the platelets being constantly rotated for the same reason - to prevent clotting.


And just FYI, here are a few things that are very important for nurses to do when a blood transfusion is ordered:

1. Make sure there is a signed consent for blood products in the patient's chart.

2. When you get the blood product from blood bank, double check it out loud with another RN against the patient's hospital band and type & screen band.

3. Do frequent vital signs according to your hospital's transfusion policy.

'


As a former M/S nurse I would remind the transfusionist to make sure they have a patent IV before obtaining the blood product. Nothing worse than having to return a blood product to the BB when you can't find a vein.

[Daytonite]

Check out the information in these links:

http://www.muw.edu/nursing/IV.htm - the last half of this document has information about the procedure of blood transfusion and transfusion reactions

http://medstat.med.utah.edu/WebPath/...K/BLDBANK.html - tutorial on blood banking and blood transfusion. Includes discussion on compatibility, crossmatching and transfusion reactions

Gompers gave you the same answer I would about the platelets. In fact, there were times when we pushed platelets directly into an IV with a large syringe.