CLINICAL LAB SCIENEC

420
ESSENTIALS OF CLINICAL LABORATORY SCIENCE
In the Lab
procedures. When the saline is again removed, the cells have been cleared of most
proteins from the plasma, leaving the cell membranes exposed. In a large hospital’s
blood bank, specialized centrifuges that automatically wash the RBCs three or four
times in quick succession are usually available.
Blood component therapy is most often used to provide RBCs to patients, but
may include platelet transfusions, white blood cell transfusions, and coagulation factors
found in the plasma of blood, procedures for which washing of the cells may be
required. The first step in preparation for any of these procedures, of course, requires
determining a blood group (ABO) and type (Rh factors). The donor’s blood and the
patient’s blood are processed to determine if the donor blood is compatible with that
of the recipient’s blood. These basic steps include a number of procedures where
antibodies are tested against the donor’s blood to prevent a transfusion reaction. Even
if the blood group and types match, there may still be atypical antibodies that may
require additional screening of donor blood before suitable matches are found. Proper
collection and screening of donor blood also require that a number of procedures be
completed to insure the safety of the blood that will be administered to a patient.
Using washed cells, prepare cell suspensions to be used for testing. The following
procedures will give practice in preparing the correct concentrations of RBCs for
testing
Equipment and Supplies
1. Gloves, disposable paper towels, and disinfectant or other cleaning solution
2. Normal physiological (0.85%) saline (blood bank quality) in squeeze bottle
3. Blood specimen collected in an anticoagulated tube, OR RBCs obtained from
freshly clotted red cells
4. Commercially prepared screening cell suspensions (used for other blood banking
procedures) to act as controls with which cell suspensions may be compared as
a standard
5. One disposable 13 × 100 test tube, two disposable 12 × 75 test tubes, and a test
tube rack
6. Absorbent pad
7. Pasteur pipettes
8. Applicator sticks if RBCs are to be taken from a clotted specimen
9. Parafilm
10. Waterproof sharp marker for labeling tubes
11. Disposal containers appropriate for biohazardous waste
Procedure
1. Wash hands and don gloves.
2. Assemble necessary equipment and supplies.
Copyright 2010 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part. Due to electronic rights, some third party content may be suppressed from the eBook and/or eChapter(s).
Editorial review has deemed that any suppressed content does not materially affect the overall learning experience. Cengage Learning reserves the right to remove additional content at any time if subsequent rights restrictions require it.