What must be done prior to administering a blood transfusion?

Prior to administering a blood transfusion, it is crucial to verify the patient’s identity and blood product details. This step helps to ensure patient safety by confirming that the blood product corresponds to the correct patient. This verification process typically involves checking the patient’s identification (like name and date of birth) against the blood product labels, which includes matching blood types and other vital information. This precaution minimizes the risk of transfusion reactions, which can occur if the wrong blood type is given, potentially leading to severe complications.

The other options involve actions that either deviate from standard protocol or lack relevance. Calling the blood bank for additional units should occur only if needed and not as a preparatory step. Administering blood products without verification represents a significant risk to patient safety, directly opposing best practices in transfusion medicine. Checking if the blood is warm is not a standard requirement compared to ensuring accurate identification and matching.