Hi Wendy
You probably found the same sites as I when you Googled needle size transfusion. According to one of the sites it is OK with smaller needles if you use gravity “forcing the red blood cells through the smaller size catheter could result in some cell damage. Allowing them to flow by gravity allows time for the cells to change shape as they naturally do when flowing through small capillaries”.
http://hadawayassociates.blogspot.co...ansfusion.html
One of the other sites repeated this: “Care must be taken to avoid excessive pressure and resulting hemolysis when very narrow devices are used”.
http://www.clinlabnavigator.com/tran...loodadmin.html
Kind regards
Birgitta