Education

Kansas City Area: Community Blood Center in Kansas City, All conferences will be held at 1 PM in the 2nd Floor Classroom.

Wichita attendees please RSVP to Brent Yoder at yoderb@usa.redcross.org or at 316-268-0879

Collection of HPC Apheresis - Wichita ARC

August 4, 2010 1 PM

Event Description: HPC apheresis products are the primary source of grafts in autologous and allogeneic adult hematopoietic stem cell transplantation. The quality of the product has an impact not only on engraftment but also on the long-term outcomes of the patients. This program will focus on different parameters that affect the quality of the products as well as the ways to improve product quality. In addition, donor characteristics in both the autologous and allogeneic setting and their effect on the collection will be reviewed.

Hot Topics in Transfusion Medicine - Kansas City CBC; St Louis ARC Locations and Wichita ARC

August 25, 2010 1 PM

Event Description: What issues will be the most pressing ones in transfusion medicine in 2010? Three experts in the field will discuss timely issues and answer questions from the audience. Paul D. Mintz, MD, editor of the AABB text Transfusion Therapy: Clinical Principles and Practice; John Roback, MD, PhD, editor of the AABB Technical Manual; and Paul Ness, MD, editor of the journal TRANSFUSION, will select from topics submitted by the audience shortly before the audio conference that represent the current problems facing physicians and technologists in transfusion. Join us for an opportunity to hear from the experts regarding pressing subjects in the field.

Platelet Antibody Case Studies - St Louis ARC Locations

September 1, 2010 1 PM

Event Descriptions: The first half will provide an overview of basic platelet antibodies (allo, auto and drug induced antibodies), the testing methods used to detect and identify various types of platelet antibodies, as well as provide some insight as to what sorts of technical problems can be seen when performing platelet testing. The second half will answer a number of questions with regards to the clinical side of platelet transfusions and refractoriness. What leads to refractoriness? Can alloimmunization be prevented (e.g. the TRAP trial data)? What products are the best for patients with antibodies that may or may not have refractory issues? Does ABO type play a role in patients with antibodies? Lecture and case study will be the instruction method.

Continuiing Education on a Limited Budget - Kansas City CBC

September 22, 2010 1 PM

Event Description: In an environment of continuing budget constraints, providing quality educational opportunities for the blood banker is a challenge. This audio conference will present tools that can be used for blood bank education and training programs, keeping in mind time, financial and other resource limitations. Use of current web-based applications and how they can be adapted to blood bank education will be discussed. The appropriate use and preparation of blood samples will be reviewed.

Personnel Matters: What Supervisors Should Know - Kansas City CBC

October 13, 2010 1 PM

Event Description: Supervisors have a challenging enough task to engage and retain a workforce without having to deal with the consequences that may result from personnel issues related to employment laws. To avoid problems of this nature, supervisors need a basic understanding of significant employment laws such as Title VII, the Americans with Disabilities Act, the Age Discrimination in Employment Act, the Family Medical Leave Act, and, for federal contractors, the Affirmative Action obligations under Executive Order 11246. This program will familiarize supervisors with the basic information about each law and suggest when it is appropriate to consult with one’s Human Resources department. Secondly, the program will briefly review what supervisors should know about labor unions and what they can or cannot do in a unionizing effort. Finally, participants will learn how to document employee performance in a manner that effectively prevents employment claims and makes such claims easier to defend.

Blood Management Overview: A Hospital Perspective - Kansas City CBC; St Louis ARC Locations and Wichita ARC

October 27, 2010 1 PM

Event Description: Blood bankers are increasingly involved in helping clinicians understand how to use products and also when not to use products. Since its establishment in 2001, the blood management program at St. Vincent Hospital in Indiana has reduced hospital transfusions by over 30%. The medical director of the program will discuss the details of implementing this kind of strategic blood management program. The medical director of transfusion services at St. Luke’s Episcopal Hospital in Houston will share the application of a blood management program in a large surgical hospital using an interdisciplinary approach. As blood management achieves new awareness with The Joint Commission, all involved with the distribution and utilization of blood will want to attend this audio conference.

Transfusion Management of Obstetric Hemorrhage - St Louis ARC Locations and Wichita ARC

November 3, 2010

Event Description: Obstetric patients often present with a normal delivery and birth of a baby. There are no complications and mom and baby usually go home within a day or two. But what happens when thing do not go as planned. A bleeding obstetric patient may present with many challenges that are not easy to handle. This audioconference will look at why OB patients hemorrhage and talk about providing OB transfusion protocols.

Antibodies: Coming in from the Cold - Kansas City CBC and Wichita ARC

November 17, 2010 1 PM

Event Description: This audio conference will provide a brief overview of what a cold agglutinin, both allo and auto, is in blood banking. It will look into ways that blood banks are currently resolving cold-reacting allo and auto antibody issues, in particular, how blood banks can determine if any other clinically significant antibodies are present. Finally, it will look into the typical clinical issues associated with cold agglutinins, especially in situations involving a cardiac patient.

On-line Continuing Education opportunities can be be found at the following websites.

American Society of Clinical Pathology

American Society of Clinical Laboratory Science

Clinical laboratory Management Association

BioMarker E-Symposium

Discovery Health CME

TraQ Program: Case Studies

Certification Programs

For information on Specialist in Blood Banking (SBB) and Blood Bank (BB) certification contact AABB Education Department at education@aabb.org

AABB OnLine

The AABB web site aabb.org contains facts about donating and receiving blood, message board for feedback and interactive sessions, listing of meetings across the nation, FDA reports and monthly updates.

Other Regional Blood Bank Associations

Kentucky Association of Blood Banks

South Central Association of Blood Banks:   Texas; Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Louisiana and Mississippi.

                                              Illinois Association of Blood Banks

                                         Indiana State Association of Blood Banks

                                                   The North Carolina Association of Blood Bankers



For information on blood donation, click one of these links:

America's Blood Centers
It's About Life

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