Question

According to the American College of Surgeons, an adult trauma patient meets Level I criteria if he or she:

a) has a systolic blood pressure of less than 110 mm Hg or a heart rate greater than 110 beats/min.
b) was involved in a motor vehicle crash in which another patient in the same vehicle was killed.
c) has a bleeding disorder or takes anticoagulant medications and has any blunt or penetrating injury.
d) has a GCS score of less than or equal to 8 with a mechanism attributed to trauma.

Answer 1

Type O negative blood is transfused in emergencies when there's no time to determine blood type because it's the universal donor. Restoring blood volume quickly is critical to prevent circulatory shock. For scheduled procedures, patient's blood type is determined to ensure compatibility.

Step-by-step explanation:

Following a motor vehicle accident, if a patient requires an emergency blood transfusion and there is no time to identify the patient's blood type, the type of blood transfused is generally Type O negative. This is because O negative blood is considered the universal donor and is most likely to be compatible with all other blood types, thereby minimizing the risk of transfusion reactions. In emergencies, it is vital to restore blood volume to prevent the patient from going into circulatory shock, which is a life-threatening condition characterized by inadequate blood flow to the body's tissues. However, in non-emergency situations, such as preparation for a scheduled surgery, it is standard practice to determine the patient's blood type to ensure compatibility. If both anti-A and anti-B antibodies cause agglutination in the blood sample, this indicates that the patient has AB positive blood, which is a normal response and not an error by the technician.