Blood type discrepancies on military identification cards and tags: A readiness concern in the U.S. Army

Abstract

Current policy allows the use of identification cards and tags for transfusion purposes during contingency operations. The purpose of this study was to determine the percentage of soldiers having the wrong blood type on their identification card or dog tag and the effects that these findings could have during wartime. Thirty-four of 923 soldiers (3.7%) demonstrated at least one discrepancy during testing. Of these 34 discrepancies, 22 (2.3%) involved ABO group errors, 10 (1.1%) involved Rh type errors, and 2 (0.2%) involved both ABO group and Rh type errors. These errors could lead to transfusion of the wrong blood type during wartime. The interface of computer systems in the near future may decrease the blood type error rate on identification cards and dog tags. Quality improvement programs to increase the accuracy of the blood type on identification cards and dog tags are suggested.