Overview
Why This Matters: the Mental Model
A patient who says "I'm one of Jehovah's Witnesses" has told you about their faith — not which treatments they will accept.
NCLEX-RN
NCLEX-RN
A patient who says "I'm one of Jehovah's Witnesses" has told you about their faith — not which treatments they will accept. The faith's position against transfusion of whole blood is unchanged. Since September 2026, each Witness personally decides whether to accept transfusions of donor red cells, white cells, plasma or platelets; blood fractions and the use of the patient's own blood are also personal decisions. Two Witnesses in neighbouring beds may therefore give very different answers — and a patient's answer today may differ from what older textbooks, older directives or a previous admission suggest. The RN mental model has three layers: 1. Ask precisely, privately and early. The only reliable source of this patient's decisions is this patient (or a valid advance directive). Why: assumptions in either direction cause harm — giving a product the person refused is battery; withholding a product the person would accept removes a safe option. 2. Plan around what the person declines. For a person who declines some or all blood products, part or all of the usual "we can always transfuse" safety...
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