Blood Typing

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The whole blood typing process is available as a RealPlayer video.

		File Size	Running Time
The Whole Process		1.86 MB	12 min

Or, to see a specific segment, click on a picture to view the corresponding movie.

QuickTime			RealPlayer
	No Food or Drinks	0:30
	Because of the danger of contamination with blood, all soft drinks, candy, and food should be removed from the lab or put safely away in your bookbag before the lab begins.
	Use Gloves When Helping	0:19
	To reduce the danger of contamination, you should do your own blood typing. If it becomes necessary to help someone else, you must wear gloves for your own protection.
	Antisera	0:24
	The antisera should be at room temperature when they are used. The blue antiserum is anti-A antibodies, the yellow one is anti-B, and the “clear” one is anti-D (anti-Rh⁺).
	Equipment Used	1:16
	Insure that all equipment listed in your lab protocol is available and ready for use.
	Marking the Slide	0:41
	A wax pencil should be used to “divide” a slide into thirds and draw a large circle in each third. The circles should be labeled (“A,” “B,” or “D,”) and the slide should be initialed.
	Loading the Lancet	0:37
	The lancet should be inserted into the Autolet® and the tip guard carefully removed. After the Autolet® is “closed,” an orange finger platform should be inserted.
	Adding Antisera to Slide	1:15
	A drop of the appropriate antiserum should be placed just inside one edge of the appropriate circle. Care should be taken that the antisera are not cross-contaminated.
	Sterilizing Finger	0:24
	The appropriate finger should be sterilized with a Kimwipe® and 70% ethanol and allowed to air-dry. If you are right-handed and do not play guitar, etc., the ring finger of your left hand should be used.
	Pricking Finger	2:10
	Hold hand below your heart. Working quickly, lance the fleshy side of the tip on the little-finger side, place a drop of blood inside the opposite edge of each circle, then stir each with its own toothpick.
	Rh Viewbox	0:40
	Place your slide on the Rh viewbox to warm it, and gently rock the viewbox back and forth to help the antisera to react with any antigens present on your RBCs.
	Proper Disposal of Trash	1:26
	While your slide is reacting, THREE toothpicks, the lancet cover, and any paper should be properly disposed of. The orange finger platform and the lancet should be ejected into the correct containers.
	Nothing in Trash Can	0:27
	Lancets should never be placed into the regular trash because someone could get stuck. Lancets should only be placed in the specially-marked sharps container.
	Agglutination	0:17
	Examine your slide for agglutination. A graininess in any of the circles is a reaction that indicated that you have that blood type. Record these data in your lab notebook.
	Slide into Bleach Solution	0:31
	Gently place your used slide into a 10% solution of chlorine bleach to disinfect it (lab personnel will complete the process). Wearing goggles can prevent eye injury due to splashed bleach solution.
	End-of-Day Clean-Up	1:18
	Before you leave, make sure all blood-stained items are correctly disposed of. Other classes should be warned to consume no food in the lab room until the tabletops have been treated with bleach-water.