A 70-lb child is scheduled for orthopedic surgery in 3 weeks. The physician requested that 2 units of autologous RBCs be drawn before surgery.

1. 1. Determine the amount to be drawn and the anticoagulant adjustment to collect RBCs from this child.

On the day of surgery, the patient becomes ill and surgery is postponed. Because of the tight operating room schedule, the surgery cannot take place for 2 months.

2. 2. Do the units need to be discarded and redrawn? Do any options exist?

The patient’s older sister would like to be a donor for this patient. She meets the regular blood donor criteria and donates a unit of blood as a directed donor 1 week before the new surgery date.

3. 3. What procedure is required before this unit can be made available to her sibling? Will the expiration date change?

4. 4. If her sibling does not use the unit during surgery, can it be returned to regular inventory?