Blood product transfusion: Side effects to watch for after going home

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Side effects after receiving a blood product are rare, but you should know what to look out for and who to contact if your child has any of these effects.

Key points

A parent or guardian must stay with your child if they are not staying for the 60 minutes after the transfusion.
It is rare, but sometimes children have serious side effects.
If your child has more than one of the serious side effects listed in this brochure, you should call your child's doctor right away or take them to your local Emergency Department.

Introduction

Side effects of a blood product transfusion

Most children will not have any side effects after a blood product transfusion. Other children may have very mild side effects. Side effects most often happen during the first 30 minutes after a transfusion, but sometimes side effects can happen up to two days after or even later.

If you or your child are not staying at the hospital for 60 minutes after the transfusion is complete, your child must be observed for reactions as outlined below. A parent or guardian must accompany all patients if they are not staying for the 60-minute period after the transfusion.

More information

The following should be filled in by your child's nurse or doctor.

Your child received the following blood product (circle):

Blood components

red blood cells
platelets
plasma
cryoprecipitate

Plasma protein products

albumin
intravenous immune globulin (e.g. Gamunex, Gammagard, Privigen)
CMV immune globulin (Cytogam)
varicella zoster immune globulin
hepatitis B immune globulin
tetanus immune globulin
Rh immune globulin (WinRho)
clotting factor concentrates (Factor XIII, von Willebrand Factor, etc.)

Recombinant factors (made in the lab, not from human plasma)

factor VII
factor IX
factor VIIa

When and where your child received the blood product

Date and time:

Location:

When to seek medical attention

When to call the doctor right away or take your child to the Emergency Department

It is very rare, but sometimes children have more serious side effects. If your child has more than one of the following symptoms at the same time after you have gone home, call your child's doctor right away or bring your child to your local Emergency Department:

fever
serious headache
stiff neck
feeling sick to the stomach
throwing up
less alert
disturbed by bright light
yellow in the face

Call the nurse or doctor if your child has one of these side effects

If your child has only one of the following side effects (but no more than one), call your child's nurse or doctor:

headache
fast heart rate
dizziness or feeling light-headed
backache
flushing (redness) of the face
stomach pain
throwing up or upset stomach
diarrhea
muscle pain
chest tightness or out of breath
rash, hives, or itching
feeling cold (chills)
fever

Also call the doctor or nurse if your child has any of the following problems:

headache with tiredness and/or blurred vision
trouble urinating (peeing), and the urine (pee) is much darker than normal
bleeding more than you would expect from a cut or scrape
pain on the right side of the body under the lower ribs and feeling sick to the stomach

Who to call with non-urgent questions or concerns

The following should be filled in by your child's nurse or doctor.

Call this number:

During these hours:

Last updated: November 25th 2010