[The nurse, a key player in transfusion safety]

Area of Science:

• Transfusion Medicine
• Patient Safety

Context:

• The nursing role is critical in the transfusion safety chain.
• Pre-transfusion procedures are the last safeguard against errors.

Purpose:

• To highlight the nurse's role in final transfusion checks.
• To emphasize the importance of bedside ABO blood group testing.

Summary:

• Nurses perform meticulous bedside checks before transfusions.
• This includes document verification, patient identification, and ABO blood group determination via agglutination tests.

Impact:

• Reinforces the significance of nursing vigilance in preventing transfusion errors.
• Underscores the critical nature of accurate bedside testing for patient safety.