Blood type patches?

[Hmac]

I'm curious. I see blood type patches for attachment to MOLLE gear, hats shirts, etc. all over the range and in LEO training courses, and I dont understand the purpose of the patches.

In the military, would they really transfuse type-specific blood entirely based on a Velcro patch on the back of somebody's gear or clothing? That would never happen in a civilian medical setting, including law enforcement, I'm surprised the military would go for it.

[tampam4]

To be rhetorical, who would wear a patch stating a blood type other than the wearers?

[peepee]

I'm curious. I see blood type patches for attachment to MOLLE gear, hats shirts, etc. all over the range and in LEO training courses, and I dont understand the purpose of the patches.

In the military, would they really transfuse type-specific blood entirely based on a Velcro patch on the back of somebody's gear or clothing? That would never happen in a civilian medical setting, including law enforcement, I'm surprised the military would go for it.

Uhhhhhh..... yes. CONUS, you're 60 min from bright lights and cold steal... not so much in combat.

[Iraqgunz]

I was told by the medics that even with a dog tag that has your blood type they would still follow certain protocols. I don't remember the whole story.

Also made me wonder about why we had the patches or stuff marked on certain items.

[CENTCOM_Survivor]

You would be better off stating NKA or if you have allergies than your blood type.

[TehLlama]

You would be better off stating NKA or if you have allergies than your blood type.

This is true, but with the availability of IR glint patches that accomplish all tasks (Bloot Type/NKDA//NoPEN//Etc.), I'm not sure why that isn't the standard.

[Weaver]

Blood type patches are a waste of money - as well as being against Army uniform regulations.

Nobody will ever trust those patches - as someone noted above, even ID tags aren't trusted. EVERYONE gets typed/matched before receiving products - if it's an emergency, they will get O-NEG until their blood is typed, but nobody will ever trust tags (which run about 10% error) or patches.

Even NKDA and NoPEN are silly - those with drug allergies should (and are required to) wear red Allergy tags. If you don't have one, you are assumed to have NKDA - so why should anyone advertise it?

[MIKE G]

They will not be used to provide "typed" blood to a patient. Period.

A statistic has been floating around the community for years that even blood typing on dog tags were wrong somewhere in the level of 10%. As for blood tags, the tag could be wrong, the person wearing the gear may not be the owner of the tag/gear, etc. Way too many variables to trust a velcro tag to be correct.

Couple that with the fact that blood reactions are a very serious issue and not easy to manage in resource limited enviros like forward facilities AND the fact that type and crossing is easy to do in the field there is no reason not to type and cross immediately prior to a transfusion. At a minimum, typing should be done on the donor and recipient to confirm a theoretical match but the patient should still be monitored for a reaction.

Allergies are one thing, blood typing to me is not worth writing on your gear, granted I have a vest somewhere from years ago that has my blood type on it.

ETA: My earlier comments are based on in-facility treatment, there is a SOF protocol for in field transfusion with pre-mission confirmed typing. Anyone that I would consider a field donor/recipient without testing immediately prior to infusion would be typed using an Eldon card and put on a cheat sheet during pre-deployment prep.

Anytime I have carried a field transfusion kit Eldon cards have been part of the kit.

[Iraq Ninja]

Patches may be of use in 3rd world (turd world) countries where you may not have Uncle Sam near by. For instance, in the Middle East, B seems to be the most common type, and since I am A+, I can't use any B.

I have friends working contracts here in Iraq where they are not DOD, and thus are forced to use the local medical sources if required. Not a good situation at all. Iraq is not at the forefront of medical care...

NKA or known allergy patches are probably more important in situations where you are unable to get to some form of definitive care and a medic is possibly having to use an analgesic or antibiotic on you.

Patches can be lost or removed. Using a sharpie is cheap and more durable.

[Army Chief]

The original concept was sound enough, as we first saw this emerge within the special operations community, where guys tended to work in small teams, in harm's way and in austere conditions. Knowing who else on the team might have a compatible blood type simply by sight was a legitimate benefit of this practice, but as with most things, conventional forces were quick to adopt it because of the perceived cool factor.

In this setting, of course, it was almost totally unnecessary, and commanders were quick to put an end to it. Like most things "tacticool," it went viral anyway, and gear manufacturers began to produce a variety of well-executed patches and tags which became standard kit for just about every tactical shooter in these United States.

As capably observed elsewhere, these patches provide no benefit in the overwhelming majority of situations (especially stateside), as (a) you will never be given a specific blood type based upon what you're wearing, and (b) there is almost always going to be an adequate supply of O-negative blood on hand. NKDA may be a more useful placard for those who wish to display something, but the whole blood type patch thing has basically become a fashion accessory for the masses, and little more.

AC