We have so many patients, that it is not unusual to encounter something new in their practices almost every week. One such thing was finding a fancy looking cloth covering the blood bag on an IV stand, while a blood transfusion was being administered. When I saw it for the first time, I thought it was a baby towel put there by the woman for drying. Many of them are quite poor and are used to using whatever place and facility are available for whatever work that must be done. Washing and drying a nappy or a towel is one such work, and any pointed object is used to hang the wet towel or nappy. When I saw this another time, I wondered aloud.
"Why does she hang a piece of cloth like this? It does not look like a baby's towel or nappy."
"Sir, this patient is afraid of looking at the blood bag. She feels giddy by the sight of it. So she covers it with a cloth."
Since there was nothing against covering a blood bag with a piece of cloth in the SOP for blood and blood product transfusion, I let it be.
"Let it be. But inspect the blood bag periodically to confirm that it is not empty, and to shake it to mix the red cells in the plasma, if they have settled down" I said.
