Has anyone had any experince that suggests that blood type is useful ID data?

Military ID's apparently include blood type, and some civilians talk about it, too. IME, no er docs will order blood based on history. Must be different in the military. Most er's have access to low titer O negative blood, low risk stuff to transfuse really quickly-but a cross-matched unit is available in about thirty minutes from most blood banks. Cross-matching-actually mixing a bit of the recipients blood with the donor unit to see if they react, indicating incompatibility- is done because blood types are not as simple as A-B-AB-O and Rh- there are dozens of antigens that affect compatibility.

So why is blood type on ID tags?

You are correct. However, in a disaster situation, it may be different. It couldn't hurt, anyway.

Jeff

When I was a firefighter / 1st responder, it was drilled into us to never take a military ID tag with blood type as fact. The reason for this that many times a patient could possibly be wearing her/his extended family, friends old military tags etc. With an unconscious patient who has no ID on their person, we would not be able to guarantee that this was their name on the tag and their blood type. Even if the patient was conscious, we were not to take their blood type as fact. Also it very surpising how many people do not know their own blood type. Typical response was " I think...."

This same topic was also discussed at one of our training sessions when we had an ER nurse come in for some training. Her response was to the effect: "No civilian nurse or DR. should never take the risk that the tags are correct and should instead order blood work.

After my short walk thru Panama, the medic that treated me said he was (expletive) shocked that my blood type was correct on my dog tags. Evidently there had been some he had seen that were way wrong. Having said that, I have a card and tag for each member of the family that is on their body at all times. Guess what, blood type is included.

For Gulf War 1 we wrote or blood type on our helmet bands.

I think you might find this article interesting.

Blood type discrepancies on military identification cards and tags

This article mentions a 1981 study which found that 10% of the blood types listed on the ID cards or dog tags of two US Army combat units in Europe had the wrong blood type listed. That's a frightening statistic.

I have the wet red type of blood, if that helps.

Seriously though, I have been injured badly enough at least twice that they had to give me blood.

I do not remember any emergency personel ever asking me what my blood type was. Not at the scene, not in the ambulance, and not at the hospital.

(One of the times they did repeatedly ask me my name, who the Prime Minister was and what year it was. It was very annoying.
How can you trust doctors who don't know simple stuff like that?)

I am not a medic, nor was I ever military, so I might have some of this wrong, but I do remember they used plasma one time.
I think it was because with plasma they don't need to worry about blood type.

Edit:
Repeating disclaimer; I am not a medic, nor was I ever military, so I might have some of this wrong

I wonder if they put the blood type on the tags in case they need donors in an emergency. I seem to remember hearing about field transfusion kits being supplied with no blood bags to medical corps years ago.
They could not carry blood, it would rot, so they were expecting to use the two legged blood bags they had wandering around.

Blood type is included on military ID's probably for 2 reasons: cross donors (where you transfuse without typing it), and to get blood quickly to the patient. Why? Well, yeah, O Neg works on everyone, but it's also kind of rare. Best to save it for folks that are truly O Neg, or traumas where there isn't time to cross check.

In the civvy world, usually O Neg (and increasingly, O Pos) is given while the typing is pending - in emergencies. If a transfusion is needed non urgently, then it can wait for a typing.

I don't know what you mean about "no doctor will order blood typing based on history." If it's not useful and not going to change treatment, docs don't order it - for no other reason that they probably won't get paid for an unnecessary test. Same goes for docs in the military.

Military ID is unique to the military. Like 90% of what happens in the service, it has little to no application in the real world.

Outside of the military, it makes you feel better. *shrugs* Magic feathers.

I am a medic in Iraq and people use the blood type tags to look cool. That's all it is, cool guy factor. You are not getting blood until you are typed. Period.

Mine is on my dogtags, but they currently reside on a mantle in my house, so they'd do me no good. I also served during the first gulf war, we wrote it on our helmet bands as well. Later, after 9/11, I was activated with the national guard, and we took to writing our personal info on our ribs. A few guys went so far as getting it tattoed there. How embarasing if it were the wrong blood type?

Good question.

I don't work in the ER, but on the floors even if the patient swears their blood type is "X", we're still doing a type and match.

If they've received a number of transfusions in the past they may have developed some antibodies that they didn't know about.

I've had a several patients with previous transfusion histories that gave the blood bank some problems matching for them, and the patients and families didn't have a clue.

Want an easy way to find your blood type, for free? Do what I do all the time, donate blood. Besides getting free coffee/OJ/cookies and Twinkies, and possibly saving someones life, they will tell you your blood type. What a deal! And if you donate enough, you can get a tee shirt, license plate bracket, all kinds of neat stuff! If you are one of the rarer types like my B-, they just love to see you walk in the door...

Well OBG, if you get to Tejas and need blood call me. (B- also)

Just curious what are the "rarities" in order of blood types? Does anyone know?

My recently issued military ID doesn't have my blood type printed on it like the older style ones. But it does have a computer chip, magnetic strip and a barcode. Probably more information there than I care to think about.

Don't know if this is true, so use the proverbial grain of salt...

I think the chip can access or has your entire 201 and medical info. Also possibly some biometric ID info for future use at entry points that might use that technology.

Good info on wiki at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blood_Type

Thanks.
Having looked that over, I shall remember not to bleed too much!

OBG, Tell the truth, you go there to see all the cute girls that take the blood. The girls tell me I am A+ (but I knew that already, O are you tell me that's my blood type, silly me.)

Biometrics are coming, military first. (well, my dog got his RFID first) Get used to it. The new ID cards will make increasing amounts of data available to anyone with access.

There is a bit of dark humor and macho posturing with labeling or even tattooing blood type on the body, as well as wearing the little velcro blood type patches. But if it reminds you to work on keeping it inside and going 'round and 'round, instead of leaking all over my boots, that's a good thing.

Putting your name and emergency contact info on a tag, patch or your body is a lot more useful than your blood type to civilian medicine, and putting your SSN on each limb (inside boots, bracelets) is more useful to the military.

The whole program ICE (In Case of Emergency)information on your cell phone thing makes sense. But, on the other hand, I've never bothered to look there, and I'm not likely to carry your phone to the ER, either. Hands down, the best place to carry medical ID is a medic alert type bracelet worn on your LEFT Wrist. Bonus points if you can guess why.

Jeff

That is the wrist that can be reached thru the window if you are trapped in the driver's seat of a vehicle?

I had several soldiers with ID info tattooed on their torso. They said it was so their body could be identified after they were dead. I then showed them some photos of long dead bodies and they realized it just might not work too well.

My watch, if I am wearing it, I seem to less and less of that since retired, is on my left wrist, don't want anything else there. So if you find me bleeding on your boots, look on the dogtag chain, you will find a red tag with my important stuff embossed on it...

EXCELLENT guess, and very close.

Okay, we'll check. A nice distinctive red "dog" tag is another good choice for a guy. check outthis and similar sruff, though: http://www.abs.net/~idtech/mediband.htm

Jeff

Okay so ya' gonna leave me hanging????

What about those rare souls among us who have no medical conditions? Why not have a med alert that says the attached body is good to go?

(also: Why don't posters put URLs in hotlinks by using the tools on the reply page, rather than posting a link address as text we need to cut and paste?)

That thing is nice, but I don't wear a watch much anymore, always wear the chain, it has a spare car and house key on it, just in case...

American ambulances virtually always put the patient stretcher on the left or center-left, and the crew bench on the right. Patients, barring special circumstances, are transported headfirst and face up. Likewise, really sharp ER nurses and docs learn to approach patient beds on the patients' typically weak side, for various reasons. Anything they do, like take your pulse or blood pressure, or start an IV, is more likely going to direct attention to your left arm, where the medic-alert can be noticed.

It is unlikely that we would go digging through your purse or wallet for medical information. Medical alert bracelets are good, as are necklaces, especially those that stand out and don't try to look like jewelry. The latter are sometimes missed. Florida has a program that lets you voluntarily list 2 emergency contacts keyed to your DL number, and rapidly available to law enforcement.

Jeff

Technology moves forward quickly, and typing blood is faster and can be done all the way forward now. It was not always that way. In the not so distant past, the blood type on your dog tags was critical, and was frequently inspected against databases maintained by unit medics to verify accuracy. It is not necessary any longer. It is not a cool guy thing, it was necessary not so long ago.

There is this thing too. You have to hope that someone will look thru your wallet/purse soon after treatment starts tho...

You still might want your emergency contact notified if you are hurt, and there are organ donor IDs out there.



No excuse, I just keep forgetting to do it. I also often post using handwriting recognition on a tablet, so some tasks are a bit of a chore. Sorry if that's irritating to you.

Jeff

Correct. Eventually. someone develops a bit of curiosity, usually the poor clerk responsible for filling out all that billing paperwork. But emergency, initial and lifesaving or stabilizing interventions usually come first. Or so I'd hope.

Jeff

I had never thought about it and just assumed it was so you would not snag and tear it of when working, the same reason my watch goes on my left wrist.
Your explanation makes a lot of sense.

I'll take a guess. If you are in a stretcher in an ambulance, the paramedic is usually seated and working on your left side and it is easier to reach your left wrist.

But your assumption was a very good one.

Congratulations! We have a winner!

Montanero:

First and foremost, thank you for your service. I realize most SF folks tend to be pretty well trained as medics of one sort or another; was that your main gig?

Most of my contact with military medicine has come from working around or cross-training with SAR, SF and Naval medicine and field hospital types, a pretty impressive group.

How were you guys type and cross-matching blood all the way forward, and how far forward did you carry and use blood products? We stand to gain a lot from recent advances in military medicine, so I'm curious, if you happen to have any links handy, or anything.

Personally, I've been waiting for those artificial gas transporting blood products that don't require antigen matching or refrigeration that were just about to come out for, oh, about twenty years now.

Jeff

When ever I am out and not carrying my wallet, like on a run or bike ride or other activity, I use a Road ID

I have two of them. Both red bands for my ankle. I have my name, city/State, wifes name and cell number, my conditions that are medically important, and blood type.

I am not affiliated with RoadID but every one of my training partners also uses one when training and it absolutely has come in handy. Since we are usually wearing shorts or bike tights its extremely noticeable on the ankle. I realize when wearing pants its not feasible so in 2009 I am looking at the yellow wrist band.

That looks like a very smart idea. That red or yellow band on a wrist or ankle would be really noticeable. I never carry ID on my bike, and only have a yellow label with emergency info inside my helmet, which is pretty weak compared to what you're doing. I need to upgrade like you.

Jeff

Jeff,

I cannot find it now, but there is a zipper pull ID out there for motorcyclist. It folds like the keychain wallet that wraps around the unused keys.

Obviously it would work for anyone, but I originally found it in a M/C magazine.
This is where I got the USB idea that I made for my family. It has all the basics and medical info on PDF on it for every family member. That way if someone is missing theirs we can still get info from another's.

Do you think EMS or the Hospital would look over it if they found one of us alone and incapacitated? It's marked with the EMT Star. (can't remember the name)

Agree, that ID is very useful and they even allow for the "NKA" I was looking for I'm going with yellow.

It only takes a minute to do a blood type in the lab. I could see having listed a rare blood type (Bombay phenotype, etc.) so that it could be called in by EMT and compatible blood possibly (keyword) be on the way before you arrive at the ER.

Do you mean a USB drive?

Laptops are becoming more common in ambulances, and ERs have computers, of course. But I'd be a bit hesitant to stick an unknown USB drive into any computer I was accountable for.

However, I could see it being very handy a bit further down the line of medical care, when traveling to faraway lands, or in a disaster, where the commonly used means of access to your medical records by fax, etc., may not be available, or after the records themselves were destroyed in a disaster.

Here's what I really want to know about you in an emergency, which I think is likely to be fairly universal in American EMS and ER systems:

Demographics:
Your full, legal name, and any others you may be known by,
Your age,
Your sex (you might be surprised),
Your permanent home mailing address,
Your home telephone number,
Your date of birth,
Your social security number,
Your insurance carriers and policy numbers (we don't care if you don't have any. We will treat you EXACTLY the same, regardless);
Full emergency contact information for your next of kin.

Medical history:
Any known drug allergies,
Any current or chronic medical conditions or diseases,
Any prescription, OTC, or herbal medicines you currently or regularly take,
Any past hospitalizations, surgeries, or major illnesses,
The full name (with spelling) and contact information of your treating physicians.

The best, most reliable way to present Rx information is to provide the most recent little paper tag most pharmacies give customers, containing the drug name, dosage, and prescribing MD. OTC and herbal medication is also an important part of your history. The Rx bottles themselves work, too. Pills moved to those little daily dose containers are useless to us.

Having all of the other information printed out on a dated paper, in summary form, is a blessing to us, and helps us help you, especially if you have a complex medical history. Your actual physical ID card (driver license, etc) and insurance cards is something we'd like to have, too.

About calling an ambulance:

If you need us, don't wait, especially if you suspect a heart attack or stroke.

If you think you will get seen sooner if you arrive by ambulance, you won't. You will likely get a bed sooner, but not a doctor. If you are suspected by the nurses of "ambulance abuse," your wait may be very long, indeed.

The ambulance is not a taxi. You may not get to choose your hospital. That depends on your condition as determined by the paramedic, hospital status at the moment (neuro coverage, cardiac services, ICU beds, ER patient load, etc.), and the current availability of ambulances.

Your loved one may not be allowed to ride in back with you. If you are allowed to ride up front, please don't chat with the driver; he's busy driving smoothly and safely, monitoring radios, and keeping an eye on what I'm doing in back. Also, we use our lights and sirens to get to the hospital far less often than you might expect, and far less often than we do to initially get to the patient.

Is your address clearly and visibly posted on your residence, preferably with large, reflective numbers?

If there's car parked out front, turning on its hazard flashers helps us find you.

For heaven's sake, please put your pets in another room, turn on the lights inside and outside, and turn off the TV before the ambulance gets there.

Jeff

There is even a product that can cause your front porch light become a flasher. It has been a while since a customer requested one, I really liked the feature. It only adds one switch to the circuit and can be placed in a closet or elsewhere to prevent accidental activation. FLASHER SWITCH

And the man is correct. PLEASE don't bother the driver. I was shocked how stupid people get when a LEO/EMS/FIRE vehicle with lights and sirens on appears from behind. They either "didn't see you" or just slam on the brakes.

Someone needs to market a front porch light with S.O.S. flash mode.

I was not a medic. The unit medics only carried IVs and focused on keeping the guy alive until the surgical team could get him. In Iraq, the Forward Surgical Teams (FSTs) were going right into the firefight to rescue wounded and could give blood products. I had a friend who took several AK rounds in one leg. He was bleeding out quickly and the firefight was still raging. The FST came right to him in their armored vehicle and gave him 3 liters of blood. He lost his leg but survived. (Side note: He received his prostetic leg at Walter Reed, recovered quickly and was such a pain to the staff they kicked back to the unit. He fought hard and won the ability to deploy back to Iraq with his team.)

I will check with some friends about links or info. Our medics were awesome, no doubt. I have let them cut on me before without hesitation. The SF medical course (18D course or 300F1 for those who were in) is the standard for all special operations medical personnel, regardless of branch. It is academically the most demanding course in the services. It includes a tremendous amount of hands on, and even a residency requirement.