Final answer:
Patient #4, a 13-year-old female with alarming vital signs following a school bus accident, should be triaged as Priority 1, red tag, due to her critical condition. In emergencies where blood type cannot be determined, O negative blood is used for transfusion. Agglutination with both anti-A and anti-B antibodies indicates blood type AB.
Step-by-step explanation:
Triage of Patient #4 After a School Bus Accident
The scenario involves a 13-year-old female with critical vital signs following a collision between a school bus and a train. Based on her respirations of 8, pulse of 124, and being nonresponsive with blood from the ears and nose, she would be classified as Priority 1, red tag. These signs indicate a life-threatening condition that requires immediate attention to save the patient's life. Respirations below 10 per minute and a rapid pulse are indicative of a critical state, and bleeding from the ears could suggest a serious head injury, possibly a skull fracture or intracranial hemorrhage. The patient's lack of responsiveness is also a grave sign, dictating the need for urgent medical intervention.
Emergency Blood Transfusion Practices
In a critical emergency with no time to determine blood type, O negative blood is typically transfused because it is the universal donor type and has the least likelihood of causing an adverse reaction. If a patient is in critical condition and bleeding severely, there isn't time to perform a type and cross; thus, the safest option is to use O negative blood.
Blood Typing in the Lab
Referring to the scenario where a technician adds anti-A and anti-B antibodies to a patient's blood sample, if both samples agglutinate, this is not an error but indicates that the patient has blood type AB, where both A and B antigens are present on the surface of red blood cells.