Patient Safety & Quality Improvement USMLE Step 1 Practice Question
A 68-year-old male with hemoglobin of 7.2 g/dL receives O-negative blood instead of his prescribed A-positive type due to specimen mislabeling in phlebotomy. Within 30 minutes, he develops fever (39.2°C), tachycardia (120 bpm), tachypnea (28 breaths/min), and hypotension (88/54 mmHg). Laboratory studies show elevated indirect bilirubin and hemoglobinuria. Despite aggressive resuscitation, he dies from acute hemolytic transfusion reaction. This preventable adverse event is classified as which of the following?
Answer choices
- AAdverse drug reaction
- BSentinel event
- CNear-miss event
- DExpected complication
- ENever eventCorrect answer
- FUnavoidable medical error
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