Minutes of Meeting on Blood Transfusion

Meeting : A Seminar on Blood Transfusion

Date : Thursday June 14, 2018 (2:00pm- 5:00pm)
Location : GMMC, Inc. Rm 406 (Presidential Suite)
Lecturer : Nurse Station 3 Staffs
Secretary : Jeezreel M. Orquina, RN, LPT
In Attendance: Rezzel N. Enerio, RN, MAN – Chief Nurse

1. Opening
Today marked the 4th consecutive seminar that GMMCI has been promoting to its nursing
service. The Nurse Station 3, led by Walter Tabora, hosted the event. The seminar began
with a prayer and singing of the national anthem.

2. Review of Previous Minutes

Jeezreel M. Orquina, presented the minutes of the previous meeting conducted on June
7th. He mentioned the assessment procedures conducted by previous reporters, the
Nurses’ Stations 1 and 2. He concluded his notes with a review on the Anti-Hospital
Deposit Act.

Everyone was well informed of the said Act approved by now President Rodrigo Duterte.

3. Review of Agenda

Walter Tabora spearheaded their reports and prior to his commencement, he presented a
video showing incidents of transfusion malpractices. Backed by research studies, data of
transfusion incidents are becoming more alarming.

He then presented the objectives of their report. Specifically mentioned were the nurses’
role in the transfusion process and GMMCI’s protocol in blood transfusion procedure.

4. Lecture Proper- Nurses Role in Blood Transfusion

Mr. Tabora started his lecture explaining about the components of the blood. He has
mentioned that an adult human normally has 4-6 liters of blood in his body. The blood is
composed of plasma, red blood cells, white blood cells, and platelets. He proceeded by
explaining the importance of blood transfusion, tracing its history back in the 17th century
 He backed up another lecture of blood types with a video. The video he showed
explained further what blood types are able to receive and what not. It has been known
that blood type O is the universal donor, whereas blood type AB is the universal receiver.
Next, Walter Tabora followed up the concept with the crossmatching procedure which is
mainly a medical laboratory specialist’s job. This procedure determines in advance if the
patient ordered for blood transfusion can safely be administered with the available blood
in provision. However, Mr. Tabora pointed out that even if the crossmatching resulted to
a non-coagulation reaction, blood transfusion reactions may still be present during or
after the procedure. Most common adverse reactions of blood transfusion include allergy
(in the form of urticarial and pruritus), anaphylaxis which can lead to pulmonary arrest,
circulatory overload and hemolytic reactions that may exacerbate to cardiac arrest, and
lastly, non-hemolytic febrile transfusion reaction. All these side effects must be reported
to the physician, and immediate interventions must necessarily be applied. He was then
asked by Jeezreel Orquina about the expiration of different blood products. He directly
presented a keynote in his powerpoint presentation the number of days that different
blood products could stand, their thermoregulation, and thawing process. He ended his
topic by providing detailed information on how to counteract common blood transfusion
reactions. It is very important that such availability of drugs, which prevent further
complications, should be available at the station, in case the need arises.

After a lengthy discussion, a 30-minute break was implemented.

5. Blood Transfusion Procedure of GMMCI

Gicelle Barili replaced Mr. Tabora in the report to discuss about the protocol of blood
transfusion followed by GMMCI. Prior to her lecture, Jeezreel Orquina raised an
important concern about the process of transacting blood with the blood banks or other
hospitals. He learned from a visiting physician, Dr. Allen Llanos, that new set of protocol
regarding blood transaction must be implemented by hospitals. He added that patients’
watchers or relatives no longer have the authority to collect the available blood products
from the blood bank. Nurses or Medical Technologists must act in liaison to withdraw the
blood products from other institutions as soon as payment has been settled in the
receiving hospital. This issue was clarified by the Chief Nurse that watchers can still
procure blood products, but prior endorsements from laboratories must be made. She
noted the importance of supplying all the information on the blood form and if the
watcher has to return because of the nurses’ failure to supply all the needed information,
travel allowance must be charged to the nurse who caused such failure. After things have
been settled, Ms. Barili continued to discuss her topic. She has showed in her
presentation the forms of GMMCI and the results of crossmatching. She also provided
information on the monitoring protocol that nurses should follow while conducting a
blood transfusion. This gave Ms. Rezzel Enerio the opportunity to lay out a report she
received in her office regarding attendants’ failure to monitor a patient’s vital signs. She
had announced that after the meeting that certain people’s presence needed to remain
 longer to discuss the issue. Hence, Ms. Barili continued and ended her report about the
proper documentation in the nurses’ notes.

6. Closing Remarks

Rezzel Enerio, the Chief Nurse, took the stage to discuss the incident that occurred in
Nurse Station 4, regarding a watcher who complained that her patient’s vital signs were
not religiously monitored. This certain responsibility is owed by the nursing attendants
and so every attendant in-attendance was asked to stay after seminar for a close-door
meeting.

7. Next Meeting

The next nursing update will be held on June 21, 2018 at 2:00-5:00pm. The seminar will
be hosted by Nurse Station 4. They will report about Drug Study.