Transfusion medicine

Canadian Blood Services supports best practices in transfusion medicine through the development of educational resources. Written by subject-matter experts from across Canada, our transfusion medicine resources support clinical practice and help health-care professionals stay current in an ever-changing field.

If you are a health-care professional working in transfusion medicine and have a comment or suggestions for new resources, please get in touch.

Aditi Khandelwal
Transfusion Medicine Specialist and Hematologist

Surveillance report

We are pleased to present this annual report describing transmissible blood-borne infection surveillance. High quality and timely surveillance is central to the safety of the blood supply. This includes monitoring of transmissible disease markers that the blood is tested for (including bacteria) and investigation of any reports of possible transfusion transmission, as well as a horizon scan for any new pathogens that may pose a risk.

Informed consent for blood transfusion

New interactive online modules support health-care professionals in understanding the basics of informed consent, including how to obtain an informed consent for transfusion of blood products and components, risks and alternatives.

Red cell antigen genotyping reports

Canadian Blood Services performs extended red cell antigen genotyping at the National Immunohematology Reference Laboratory (NIRL) using Grifols’ ID CORE XT assay. A new course (published January 2024) on interpreting these genotyping reports is now available. The course supports healthcare providers in understanding components of the red cell antigen genotyping report and the significance of the results.

Latest updates from the National Advisory Committee on Blood and Blood Products (as of October 28, 2024)

New

Updated

Upcoming events

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Jan 7
12:00 pm | Toronto/Virtual

Journal club: TBA

Presented by Dr. Sheharyar Raza Transfusion Medicine Physician Trainee University of Toronto Learning objectives TBA 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

Transfusion

Jan 14
12:00 pm | Toronto/Virtual

Topic teaching: Drug-induced hemolytic anemia

Presented by Dr. Sue Johnson Director of Clinical Education Director, Specialist in Blood Banking (SBB) Program Versity Learning objectives TBA 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

Transfusion

Jan 23
12:00 pm | Virtual

BiTE and CAR-T cells – expected impact on transfusion

Presented by Dr. Abi Vijenthira Learning objectives TBD Registration Registration is required for this event. To receive registration details for upcoming U of T Transfusion Medicine Rounds directly, join the U of T Transfusion Medicine mailing list via Ontario Regional Blood Coordinating Network

Transfusion

Recent R.E.D. blogs

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Top 5 R.E.D. Blog posts of 2024

This year, the most viewed R.E.D. blog posts of the past year feature some of the incredible researchers and trainees that were part of Canadian Blood Services’ research and education network in 2024: 5. Physician trainee promotes uptake of patient blood management in new publication The referenced media source is missing and needs to be re-embedded. Patient blood management (PBM) is a patient-centred, evidence-based, multidisciplinary approach to caring for patients who might need a blood transfusion, often with a focus on the time before surgery occurs, which is known as the “perioperative

Post date: December 13, 2024

Organs and tissues

Transfusion

You’re invited to take our new Virtual Tour!

New Tour introduces journey of blood donation Canadian Blood Services’ new Virtual Tour provides an easy to access, highly visual introduction to the journey of a blood donation from donor to recipient and is now available on Canadian Blood Services professional education website, Profedu.ca. Originally envisioned as a centralized and interactive tool to help introduce new medical and laboratory trainees to information about Canada’s blood system, the Virtual Tour promotes awareness of the step-by-step processes for recruiting donors and collecting, manufacturing, testing, labelling, storing

Post date: December 10, 2024

Transfusion

Perseverance and collaboration: How a new clinical trial aims to determine whether sex matters when matching blood products to patients

As the Principal Investigator for the SexMatters trial described in this blog, Dr. Mickey Zeller is an Associate Professor in the Department of Medicine at McMaster University. She is also a Medical Officer at Canadian Blood Services. Around 2018, Dr. Mickey Zeller's grandmother asked her a question that she couldn’t fully answer at the time. It’s a question that Dr. Zeller continues to keep top-of-mind in her roles as an Associate Professor at McMaster University and a Medical Officer at Canadian Blood Services. Having sustained a pelvic fracture at the age of 94, she asked her granddaughter

Post date: October 31, 2024

Transfusion