Qualitative research, descriptive exploratory, aimed to know the perception of blood transfusion recipients as to the process. The research was carried out at a blood bank in a city in southern Brazil, and the data were analyzed using the Collective Subject Discourse. Were interviewed using a semistructured instrument, eleven patients, men and women between 30 and 95 years, post-surgical recovery of cardiac surgery, underwent blood transfusion. Four central ideas emerged: loss and blood replacement; Preservation of life; Recognition of the transfusion process; and transfusion safety. The perception about the change that post-transfusion begin to live from the transfusion process raises a reframing of life itself. This study showed that transfused patients perceive the transfusion process as a means of survival, and even having knowledge about the process and their meanings, there is the permanence of fears and anxieties that can be minimized by the multidisciplinary team.
Blood Transfusion; Perception; Nursing