If blood specimens are collected from an anticoagulated catheter, a 1mL sample should be collected and discarded before the collection of the blood sample. An identified urgent need for blood or blood components will take priority over other blood orders. Notify the Blood Bank of the urgency of the request so that a priority can be assigned to the request. If no difficulty is encountered in compatibility testing, routine orders for Red Blood Cells will be available within two hours after receipt of the order. Red Blood Cells rather than Whole Blood will be supplied routinely for transfusions.
Whole blood is generally unavailable.
The Blood Bank will call the patient unit when components are ready for transfusion. Unless approved by the Pathology House Officer, a maximum of two units of crossmatched red blood cells will be held for a patient. In most cases, additional units are available quickly and reservation of additional units are unnecessary. Crossmatched units of red blood cells and other blood components will be held in the Blood Bank for a maximum of three days from the time the crossmatch specimen was collected. The component reservation will be canceled at midnight.