Carman Margaret, Uhlenbrock Jennifer Schieferle, McClintock Sara Marie
Margaret Carman is an associate professor at the Georgetown University School of Nursing and Health Studies, Washington, DC. Jennifer Schieferle Uhlenbrock is a clinical nurse III in the ED at the Duke University Health System, Durham, NC. Sara Marie McClintock is a critical care advanced practice provider in the neurosciences ICU at Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center, Winston-Salem, NC. Contact author: Margaret Carman,
Am J Nurs. 2018 May;118(5):36-44. doi: 10.1097/01.NAJ.0000532808.81713.fc.
: In the United States, roughly 4.5 million patients per year receive transfusions of various blood products. Despite the lifesaving benefits of transfusion therapy, it is an independent risk factor for infection, morbidity, and death in critically ill patients. It's important for nurses to understand the potential complications patients face when blood products are administered and to recognize that patients who have received blood products in the past remain at risk for delayed reactions, including immune compromise and infection. Here, the authors review the blood products that are commonly transfused; discuss potential complications of transfusion, as well as their associated signs and symptoms; and outline current recommendations for transfusion therapy that are widely supported in the medical and nursing literature.
