WCBS is proud to announce the introduction of a second sample crossmatch policy for transfusion naïve patients that has been rolled out at three hospitals with onsite blood banks in the past few months (Khayelitsha District Hospital, Groote Schuur Hospital and Mediclinic Vergelegen).
The second sample policy involves requesting an additional crossmatch sample from patients who have never received a blood product before in the Western Cape (i.e. do not have a previous blood group record on our system), in order to ensure that their blood group is correct. The purpose of this strategy is to avoid an incompatible blood transfusion by identifying when blood samples have been taken from the wrong patient, labelled with incorrect details, or if there is a sample mix-up in the ward or blood bank. Second sample crossmatch policies are widely practiced in first world settings. Provided the blood groups from the second sample matches that of the first (and no antibodies are present), products can be issued without performing a physical crossmatch procedure, which saves about 30-60 minutes. This means that if the second sample reaches the hospital’s onsite blood bank within 45 minutes from the time of request and the blood groups correlate, the blood can be issued quicker than before as the time taken for serological crossmatching is removed.
WCBS aims to roll this policy out at all hospitals with onsite blood banks in order to strive for the highest standard of patient safety while never compromising blood product delivery and patient care.
For more information about the rationale of this policy, please contact Dr Caroline Hilton – Lead Medical Consultant (caroline@wcbs.org.za) or Ms Meridah Mwase – Head of Blood Banks (meridah.mwase@wcbs.org.za)
