How to determine your blood group

The body fluid which carries necessary substances such as oxygen and nutrients to the cells is known as blood. Blood as we all know is composed of blood cells which are suspended in a semi liquid medium called as the blood plasma. The blood cells are mainly the red blood cells or are represented by the acronym RBC. These cells give blood its red color. Other blood cells are the platelets and the white blood cells.

Blood for convenience is grouped under different categories. Blood type or blood group is the simple classification of blood based on the presence or absence of inherited antigenic substances on the surface of the blood cells that is the RBCs. Blood type of a child may or may not be inherited from its parents. The child may either have a blood group same as that of his mother or father or not have any of these groups. A total of 30 different blood systems are at present identified by the International Society of Blood transfusion. The most famous systems are the ABO blood group system and the Rh system.

There are a number of ways for a person to find his or her blood group. You can try out any of the following methods:

The first option is to seek the help from a health care physician. This isn’t pretty much of a job and if the physician has your blood group in his file all you have to do is just ask. The second way of finding your blood group is while you donate your blood. When you are done ask them that you would prefer to know your blood group. Although it will take them some time for processing the tests, they will surely be able to guide you right. The third way is to purchase a blood type testing kit. Read the instructions in the booklet and do it as you are instructed. Other method is testing using a blood calculator.

One of the most popular methods for knowing the blood type is with the help of a blood typing kit. Most of the kit comes with the instruction manual so there will not be any difficulty to use them. Knowing your group is very easy with the help of this kit, first clean your finger with the supplied alcohol prep pad. After the middle finger is lanced with sterile disposable lancet put the hand downward so that blood drop will be placed in each of the four sticks. The next step is to apply the sticks to the card for approximately 2 minutes it is continuously stirred. We can read out the results from the card. This whole process is so simple that we need less than 6 minutes to know our blood group. This blood typing kit is easily available in the market all you have to do is find one of good quality.