What's New - December 2012 (By topic)
Also see What's new - chronological | What's new - Archives
Index: TraQ & BC PBCO | Global News | Diseases | Industry News | Resource Library | Journals
Collaborating Sites: CSTM | Canada's TSOs | California Blood Bank Society
Transfusion Reaction Education for BC Pathologists - Webinars now available (Inc. slides & Q&A section)
BC PBCO & BC Technical Resource Group: Transfusion Bits and Bytes (6 educational videos for medical laboratory technologists)
BC PBCO mobile web apps: BMI (Body Mass Index) Calculator and IVIG Dosing Calculator | Instructions:
- Android | Blackberry | iPhone
- For further information contact Quality and Utilization Management Program Coordinator at PBCO
TraQ's December newsletter | BC PBCO
Global News
General
- Beagle sniffs out C. difficile infection (13 Dec. 2012) No limits to the canine snozzle?
- Delay in ordering blood resulted in death & $9 million - Court of Appeals Verdict
- Fascinating case of interest to physicians, nurses, medical technologists about delay in ordering blood, inc. physician opting to wait for crossmatched units. Legal tidbits:
- “Degree of reprehensibility of the defendant’s misconduct,” is the “most important indicium of the reasonableness of a punitive damages award”
- US Supreme Court set 5 factors for determining reprehensibility of a defendant’s misconduct (Read verdict to discover them)
- Leukemia patients remain in remission more than 2 years after receiving genetically engineered T cell therapy (UPenn news release, 9 Dec. 2012)
- Related news item (11 Dec. 2012)
- AABB Standards:
- Proposed 8th ed. of Standards for Immunohematology Reference Laboratories (Comment: 28 Sept. - 28 Dec. 2012)
- Proposed 2nd ed. of Standards for Molecular Testing for Red Cell, Platelet, and Neutrophil Antigens (Comment: 28 Sept. - 28 Dec. 2012)
Canada
- Héma-Québec to run more cultures on quarantined blood (5 Dec. 2012) Leaky bags are from Haemonetics, which has no comment to date
* Also see TraQ's Canada News | International News
Australia / NZ
- 33 wk old fetus gets IVT to treat parvovirus transmitted from Mom (28 Dec. 2012)
- Royal College of Pathologists of Australasia launches fun social media campaign to encourage viewers to imagine a "World Without Pathologists" (28 Nov. 2012) | World without Pathologists (website)
- 30 years of HIV - Rates increase amid new hope for a cure (1 Dec. 2012) (HIV increased 8% last year, 50% over past decade)
Ireland
- IBTS postpones full implementation of EU Blood Directive (14 Nov. 2012) Hb standard led to significant increase in deferrals
- Outgoing chair warns Health Minister that failure to fill ISBT board vacancies creates “unacceptable risk” (27 Nov. 2012)
Saudi Arabia
UK
- Royal Bournemouth Hospital joins NHS Blood and Transplant pilot of electronic tracking systems to monitor blood stocks (16 Nov. 2012)
USA
- Virginia Blood Services sold to Pittsburgh's ITxM (~3 yrs ago "board began looking into ways to better compete") (14 Dec. 2012)
- Homicide rates fall despite soaring gun violence (8 Dec. 2012) Interesting analysis of advances leading to better survival, inc. transfusion practices
Industry news
- Haemonetics: Client letter with examining protocol, photos on potential for leaks in the flexible Y connector of donor line in some whole blood collection sets (14 Dec. 2012) Fall-out from Hema-Quebec issue. Love how they mention in 1st paragraph it's Pall Corp products.
- Immucor launches Lab Education And Resource Network (LEARN) For customers only | Immucor Login
* Also see TraQ's Industry News
Diseases in the news
* See TraQ's 'Disease clearinghouses' in top menu
Resource Library / Links
Canada
BC PBCO and BC TRG: Transfusion Bits and Bytes (6 educational videos for med lab technologists)
BC PBCO mobile web apps: BMI (Body Mass Index) Calculator and IVIG Dosing Calculator | Instructions:
Android | Blackberry | iPhone
For further information contact Quality and Utilization Management Program Coordinator at PBCO
@transfusionnews (TraQ webmaster's personal Twitter account)
New TM blog: Here comes the sun (Musings on putting fun back into transfusion medicine)
Nov. blog: You don't own me (Musings on TM professionals as industry's poodles)
*See TraQ's Resource Library | Nursing resources | Literature clearinghouses | Links | Continuing education | Jobs | Video library
Journals, etc.
Free full text papers | * 1 or more Canadian authors
- * Blake JT, Hardy M, Delage G, Myhal G. Déjà-vu all over again: using simulation to evaluate the impact of shorter shelf life for red blood cells at Héma-Québec. Transfusion. 2012 Nov 12. [Epub ahead of print]
- Friedman M, Arja W, Batra R, Daniel S, Hoehn D, Paniz AM, et al. Informed consent for blood transfusion: what do medicine residents tell? What do patients understand? Am J Clin Pathol. 2012 Oct;138(4):559-65.
- * O'Brien SF, Scalia V, Goldman M, Fan W, Yi QL, Dines IR, Huang M, Ndao M, Fearon MA. Selective testing for Trypanosoma cruzi: the first year after implementation at Canadian Blood Services. Transfusion. 2012 Nov 12. [Epub ahead of print]