title: Nearly two decades using the check-type to prevent ABO incompatible transfusions: one institution's experience.
abstract: To detect miscollected (wrong blood in tube [WBIT]) samples, our institution requires a second independently drawn sample (check-type [CT]) on previously untyped, non-group O patients who are likely to require transfusion. During the 17-year period addressed by this report, 94 WBIT errors were detected: 57% by comparison with a historic blood type, 7% by the CT, and 35% by other means. The CT averted 5 potential ABO-incompatible transfusions. Our corrected WBIT error rate is 1 in 3,713 for verified samples tested between 2000 and 2003, the period for which actual number of CTs performed was available. The estimated rate of WBIT for the 17-year period is 1 in 2,262 samples. ABO-incompatible transfusions due to WBIT-type errors are avoided by comparison of current blood type results with a historic type, and the CT is an effective way to create a historic type.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, Division of Transfusion, Medicine, the Cleveland Clinic, Cleveland, OH 44195, USA.
authors.forename: Priscila I
authors.initials: PI
authors.lastname: Figueroa
authors.forename: Alyssa
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Ziman
authors.forename: Christine
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Wheeler
authors.forename: Jeffrey
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Gornbein
authors.forename: Michael
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Monson
authors.forename: Loni
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Calhoun
mesh_terms: D000017:ABO Blood-Group System / Q000276:immunology*; D001787:Blood Group Incompatibility / Q000517:prevention & control*; D001803:Blood Transfusion; D006801:Humans; D019300:Medical Errors / Q000517:prevention & control*
chemical_list: D000017:ABO Blood-Group System