Compatibility.
Who can give to whom: red cells, plasma and platelets.
7 guides
Antigens and antibodies, the two words that explain blood types
What antigens and antibodies really are, why your plasma attacks blood groups you lack, and how two words unlock every blood compatibility rule.
Blood typing, step by step, how your group is determined
How a lab finds your blood group: forward and reverse grouping, Rh and weak-D testing, repeat checks, and why a wrong label is a real emergency.
Emergency blood, why trauma teams don't wait for your group
Why unknown-group trauma patients get O negative blood first, how massive transfusion protocols work, and why the lab types while O− is running.
How blood compatibility actually works
Why blood types can't mix, what the antigens and antibodies are doing, and why the crossmatch (not the chart) gives the final word. Plain language.
Red cells vs plasma, the compatibility flip that surprises everyone
AB is the universal red-cell recipient but the universal plasma donor. O is the opposite. Why one donation carries two opposite compatibility rules.
The crossmatch, the final check before any transfusion
What a crossmatch test is, major versus minor, the computer crossmatch, type and screen, how long it takes, and what incompatible results mean.
What happens in an incompatible transfusion, and why it's almost impossible by design
The science of a transfusion reaction, the bedside warning signs, the stop-first protocol, and the layered checks that make mismatches rare.