[Blood transfusion receivers' perception of the transfusion process]

Qualitative research, descriptive exploratory, aimed to know the perception of blood transfusion recipients as to the process. The research was carried out at a blood bank in a city in southern Brazil, and the data were analyzed using the Collective Subject Discourse. Were interviewed using a semistructured instrument, eleven patients, men and women between 30 and 95 years, post-surgical recovery of cardiac surgery, underwent blood transfusion. Four central ideas emerged: loss and blood replacement; Preservation of life; Recognition of the transfusion process; and transfusion safety. The perception about the change that post-transfusion begin to live from the transfusion process raises a reframing of life itself. This study showed that transfused patients perceive the transfusion process as a means of survival, and even having knowledge about the process and their meanings, there is the permanence of fears and anxieties that can be minimized by the multidisciplinary team.