blood administration

General question......at our hospital we hang NS with blood when administering it to patients. Is this a common practice in other hospitals or do other hospitals not hang any IVF with blood?

Normal Saline Solution (NSS) is the ONLY solution that should be hung with Blood and it frequently is used to pre-prime the filter and purge the IV tubing, using a "Y" set.

D5W should not be used as it causes hemolysis of cells and LR combines with citrate {which is added to blood} to cause concerns with calcium concentrations in the body.

So, yes, it is common to use NSS with blood.

DD

Yes, we hang NS when administering blood products.

Yes, common where I work as well.

Yes; I believe this is common practice.

Thanks to all who responded. Have a merry xmas!:)

Ns Only

-h-rn