BLOOD TRANSFUSION

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IM A NURSING STUDENT. AND IM A LITTLE CONFUSED WITH THE BLOOD TRANSFUSION SET UP..

My question is If I prime the Y tubing with normal saline, do i need to prime the blood also once i spike the bag of blood?? :confused:

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Specializes in CTICU.

I don't know what you mean by "prime the blood".... you just prime the tubing with saline then start running the blood (slowly, according to protocol).

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I think im confusing myself more than i should be. So once i prime the normal saline and spike the blood bag, I close the normal saline clamp and run the blood as ordered

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Specializes in Critical Care.
I think im confusing myself more than i should be. So once i prime the normal saline and spike the blood bag, I close the normal saline clamp and run the blood as ordered

Close all the clamps before you begin. Spike the saline bag. Open the upper clamp and run the saline into the drip chamber until it covers the filter (not until it fills the chamber---it should be about 2/3 full or so). You can squeeze the chamber gently (don't crush the filter) until it is filled to the desired level.

Leaving the upper saline clamp open you should now open the lower clamp and fill the lower tubing completely with saline. Now close all the clamps again. Attach the set to the patient at this point and it will be all ready by the time your blood product arrives.

Spike the blood bag, open the upper blood line clamp and the lower main line clamp (leaving the saline bag clamped) and let the blood product drip into the chamber. The air in the blood line will go into the chamber, not into the main line.

Leave the saline bag clamped during and after priming with the blood or your blood will go up into the saline bag. Not pretty but it happens fairly frequently---we've all seen those pink bags of saline hanging next to a bag of packed cells. :nurse:

Now run the blood.

I'm tired and apologize if I screwed this up---someone step in and please correct it if I did! :eek:

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I think that was a great explanation of how to hang it. I was taught to do it all when the blood arrived, needless to say, when I did it on my own for the first time, I ended up with a "pink" bag. :jester: The tech came out to inform me, and I nodded and simply admitted to my error and moved on:rolleyes: I will use your steps in the future as it makes more sense to me. Thank you!

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And how fast the saline usually runs at before the blood comes in, TKO at 10ml/hr or 100ml/hr?

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Curious. At my facility, we spike the blood bag with tubing and let the blood prime the tubing.... we never use saline. Anyone else?

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Specializes in OR, peds, PALS, ICU, camp, school.
Curious. At my facility, we spike the blood bag with tubing and let the blood prime the tubing.... we never use saline. Anyone else?

Usually I prime with saline but if I have a drain circler I spike one line with blood, prime and infuse and get the next spiked and ready to follow and skip the whole saline process. Usually, the benefit of priming with NS is that I can have it ready while waiting for the products to arrive.

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Curious. At my facility, we spike the blood bag with tubing and let the blood prime the tubing.... we never use saline. Anyone else?

We do the same thing

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Question......if I'm dumping blood in as fast ask can, they're on pressure bags etc. Do I need to flush with saline before I hang the next unit? Or can I just keep going. We do have a 2unit or 4hr tubing limit.

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I have a question, I had some trouble with a 500cc bag of blood infusing. The blood was primed through the filter and once it got to the drip chamber, the drip chamber suck in instead of taking the blood to the patient. Have you ever had this problem? we changed the filter twice and it did not seem to be related to the filter. The blood bank was of no help and felt the blood was go to go. I did flush some saline back up into the blood thinking that might help but no luck, any thought out their. Thanks ....driving me crazy for weeks!

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I have a question, I had some trouble with a 500cc bag of blood infusing. The blood was primed through the filter and once it got to the drip chamber, the drip chamber suck in instead of taking the blood to the patient. Have you ever had this problem? we changed the filter twice and it did not seem to be related to the filter. The blood bank was of no help and felt the blood was go to go. I did flush some saline back up into the blood thinking that might help but no luck, any thought out their. Thanks ....driving me crazy for weeks! :coollook:

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