Thank you for everyone's valid points. These are the very same issues we are currently going through. Our pharmacy sees every written order for what they dispence, so many are wondering why the blood bank doesn't do the same. And as expected, folks here are questioning our processes because of a near miss incident that triggered a root cause analysis. In the end, it was declared that the nursing staff simply misread and did not understand the physicians order. Not only is the process spelled out in the nursing transfusion policy that the TWO participating individuals must verify the existance of a physicians order for transfusion and signed consent, but must also sign a certification statement that they did so on each issue/transfusion form for each blood product issued. Right now I have to side with the argument that those nursing and clerical staff upstairs have to follow established procedures and be held accountable. My believe is that our process if very cleary spelled out, we should expect people to perform their job as expected, and stop shifting the responsibility to others. Our Blood Bank will always gladly assist in the process of clearifying an order, however if it still unclear, our staff (nursing and lab) has to have reasonable critical thinking skills to call the physican for clearification. Again, thank you for everyones debate! Carry on Blood Bankers!