Topic Teaching: The History of Transfusion Medicine in Canada

Speaker:

Dr. Donald Arnold
Associate Professor
Division of Hematology and Thromboembolism
Department of Medicine, McMaster University

Objectives:

1.  Describe the origins of blood transfusion.
2.  Recall the "Tainted Blood Tragedy" in Canada.
3.  Understand the Precautionary Principle.

References:

Post-transfusion hepatitis:  impact of non-A, non-B hepatitis surrogate tests.  Canadian Post-Transfusion Hepatitis Prevention Study Group.  Blajchman MA, Bull, SB, Feinman SV. Lancet. 1995 Jan 7;345(8941):21-5. PMID: 7528310.

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’d 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.