Evaluating medical interns' knowledge of common blood transfusion complications

A good knowledge of the proper implication of blood products and the ability to prevent potential complications is crucial, especially for medical interns before embarking upon their career. We aimed to investigate the level of knowledge of common blood transfusion complications among medical interns.

In this study, 90 medical interns at Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences were asked to fill out a questionnaire consisting of 14 questions on acute complications of transfusion; probable causes of the acute complications and their clinical symptoms; initial treatment of acute reactions; role of parenteral corticosteroids in the treatment; best method of applying epinephrine; follow-up duration; and preventive measures of acute reactions.

All the interns enrolled in the study completed the form within the allocated time and sent it back to us. Average total score was 10.94 from 20. There was a significantly acceptable level of awareness of ABO incompatibility, with 96.5% of the total score having been achieved, while general knowledge about treatment methods, observation and risk factors of TRALI was moderate to weak.

Current educational level for transfusion medicine seems to be inadequate as the medical interns in our study were not sufficiently versed in the complications of blood transfusion and their management.