Topic Teaching: Blood Shortage Management: A Shared National, Provincial and Local Responsibility

Presented by:

Wendy Owens, MLT
Program Manager, Ontario Regional Blood Coordinating Network
(ORBCoN)

Objectives:

1.  Explain the key elements for the national plan for management of blood shortages.
2.  Describe the key elements of provincial and hospital contingency plans for managing blood shortages.
3.  Apply the principles of rationing red cells for massively bleeding patients during a critical red cell shortage.
4.  Identify lessons learned from recent blood shortages and exercises.

References:

1.  Drackley A. et al Transfusion.  2012 Feb;52(2):366-74, doi:10.1111/j.1537.
2.  https://nacblood.ca/resources/shortages-plan/index.html National Blood Shortages Plan and the Red Phase Emergency Framework documents.

Note:  The session is a self-approved group learning activity (Section 1) as defined by the Maintenance of Certification program of The Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada.

To register for the LearnTransfusion series, send an email to learn.transfusion@blood.ca with  “Weekly Transfusion Medicine Seminars” in the subject line. Include your name and complete e-mail address in the body of the e-mail, and confirm that you would like to register for the LearnTransfusion series. You will then receive weekly email notifications of upcoming series events with details on how to join the webinars (e.g., call-in number and a link to register for the webinar).

The LearnTransfusion series is the seminar component of the Areas of Focused Competency (AFC)-Diploma Program in Transfusion Medicine. The series, organized by Canadian Blood Services is also open to all practitioners in the field of Transfusion Medicine. Through a series of regular webinars, trainees and practitioners are exposed to various scientific, technical and clinical aspects of transfusion medicine.