Sultana Habibullah, Shakil Ahmed Dahar, Junaid Ashraf, Akeel Aamir Mullick M Shakeel.
To determine patients perceptions and attitudes for blood transfusion.
Pak J Med Res Jan ;55(2):48-50.

Background: Blood transfusion is a risky procedure due to transmission of various infections and reactions of unmatched blood transfusion. Many blood transfusion related problems can be prevented to some extent if patients and their family members are involved in transfusion related procedure. Objectives: To determine patients’ perceptions for the recall of consent process, risks, benefits and attitude for blood transfusion. Study design, settings and duration: Hospital based cross-sectional study done on adult patients admitted in Orthopedic and Surgical wards of Civil Hospital, Karachi from November 2014 to January 2015. Patients and Methods: Using convenient sampling, a total of 350 patients who were admitted and received blood transfusion were included in the study. Variables included age, gender, educational status, language spoken, recall of consent for blood transfusion, risks, benefits and attitudes for blood transfusion. Questionnaire based instrument was used for data collection. SPSS version16 was used for descriptive frequencies. Results: Of the total 98% patients were neither asked nor recalled for the consent of blood transfusion. Only 19 (5%) patients were informed about the risks and 77 (22%) about the benefits of blood transfusion. About 236 (67%) patients were of the opinion that blood of family members, if transfused, carries fewer chances of risk/reactions and 213 (61%) patients stated that they will prefer to receive blood transfusion from their family members. Only, 16 (5%) said that would refuse blood transfusion even if it was needed and will prefer blood alternatives. Overall 326 (93%) patients had poor perception and 262 (75%) good perception for blood transfusion. Conclusion: The consent for blood transfusion was missing in majority of the cases and risks and benefits were not explained to the patients. Policy statement: Institutional Bioethics Committees should take notice of these shortcomings. Key words: Blood transfusion consent, risks benefits.

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