30 yrs back I was working as a paediatrician at Sacred Heart Hospital, Tuticorin Tamilnadu. At 1.30, I was about to leave for my quarters, and a bottle of blood was brought for transfusion. I instructed the nurse to transfuse to a particular patient. She promptly agreed, touched the bottle with knuckles and said - I will give; it is cold -At 3 pm I was called to the ward to see a patient and the blood was still lying on the table. At 4.30 also, blood was still lying on the table. I asked the sister why the blood was not given.
Her reply- Dr it is still cold I never knew that cold blood should not be given. I asked my colleagues in the Hospital and IMA the reasons for not giving cold blood. No body could give me an answer. Finally, the answer was found in B Sc Nursing book. When you store the blood in the Refrigerator the Potassium will come out of RBCs and cause dangerous…
