World Health Organisation
Provides extensive resources on all aspects of transfusion. Resources for clinical transfusion practice improvement include:
The Clinical Use of Blood in Obstetrics, Paediatrics, Surgery & Anaesthesia, Trauma & Burns. (English, Portuguese, Spanish)
The Clinical Use of Blood Handbook (English, Portuguese, Spanish)
Recommendations on Developing a National Policy and Guidelines on the Clinical Use of Blood (English, Portuguese, Spanish, French).
International Haemovigilance Network: Resources include haemovigilance definitions, definitions, and downloadable papers on haemovigilance.
International committee of commonality in blood banking (ICCBBA) manages the ISBT 128 coding system. This is the global standard for the identification, labeling and information processing of human blood, tissue and organ products.
European Commission Public Health Programme: In addition to the Eu Optimal Use of Blood project, the Commission supports the following projects
EU-Q-Blood SOP Project: Development of a pan-European standard operating procedure (SOP) methodology reflecting European best practice within the area addressing the quality and safety of blood.
European Blood Inspection System: Contains publications of this 'sister project', including Manual for Developing Standard Operating Procedures and Inspection Guide.
Domaine:A collaborative project to develop resources for blood donor management in Europe. Includes donor recruitment strategies, donor retention strategies, deferral procedures and blood bank policy regarding patients requiring long-term transfusion
Council of Europe: European Directorate for Quality of Medicines (EDQM): EDQM now hosts and manages the Council of Europe (programme on blood transfusion, including production of the Guide to the Preparation, Use and Quality Assurance of Blood Components. On the CoE site, search blood transfusion to access relevant pages. The 15the Edition of the Guide should become available on the website during 2010.
Report on the collection, testing and use of blood and blood components in Europe in 2004
Haemovigilance Programmes of EU member states
- Denmark http://www.haemovigilance.dk/index_eng.htm
- France http://www.ints.fr
- Netherlands http://www.tripnet.nl/pages/nl/
- Luxembourg http://www.croixrouge.lu/
- Norway http://www.hemovigilans.no/
- Republic of Ireland http://www.giveblood.ie/Clinical_Services/Haemovigilance/
- Spain http://www.msc.es/profesionales/saludPublica/medicinaTransfusional/home.htm
- UK http://www.shotuk.org/
European Blood Alliance: Contributes to safety and security of the blood supply in Europe by developing and maintaining a network of partner blood services across Europe. Co sponsor of this Manual and website.
Eurocode (International Blood Labeling Systems): Website is currently uninformative
German medical Association (Bundesaertzekammer): Includes the 2009 cross sectional guidelines for therapy with blood components and plasma derivatives.
English language translation of the 2009 cross sectional guidelines for therapy with blood components and plasma derivatives:
UK Blood Services Professional Advisory Committee: Includes an evidence library with index of systematic reviews and randomised clinical trials relevant to transfusion. Toolkit of resources for quality improvement in transfusion practice and other resources, Handbook of transfusion medicine, Guidelines for the UK blood services.
British Blood Transfusion Society: Provides information about education, professional development and training activities.
British Committee for Standards in Haematology: Displays UK Guidelines for transfusion and other aspects of haematology.
National Institute for Clinical Excellence in the UK: Provides national evidenced based guidance for health professionals. Tools to support service redesign and implementation of NICE guidance.
National Institute for Health Centre Graduate Medical Education: Training Programs: Has developed a comprehensive portfolio of clinical research training and medical education initiatives.
National Patient Safety Agency: Provides a toolkit of resources to assist with improving patient safety. Has information on safe patient identification and competency assessment for blood transfusion.
NHS Quality Improvement Scotland:An organisation which asists NHS hospitals in Scotland to improve patient care by setting standards. Assesses and measures the performance of hospitals against these standards. Standards for blood transfusion and the peer review inspection reports are available.
Network for the Advancement of Transfusion Alternatives
Provides information about alternatives to transfusion.
Scottish Intercollegiate Guidelines Network (SIGN)
Developed an evidence-based guideline, which aims to maximise patient safety by helping clinicians decide when transfusion is appropriate.
Scottish National Blood Transfusion Service
Better Blood Transfusion -continuing education programme
An elearning programme designed at three levels. Targets all practitioners involved in the clinical transfusion process.
Skills for Health
Provides resources to assists the UK health sector develop a skilled workforce e.g. career pathways, competencies.
Centre for Maternal and Child Enquiries
The Centre for Maternal and Child Enquiries' mission is to improve the health of mothers, babies and children by carrying out confidential enquiries on a UK wide basis.
- Maternal death enquiry
- National perinatal and maternal mortality surveillance
- Maternal and perinatal enquiry projects
- Child health enquiry projects
Australian Blood Services
Gives health professionals access to information about blood and blood products, from donation to transfusion and beyond. It includes a Transfusion Medicine Manual, which contains more detailed information about blood products and clinical practice. Circular of information about blood components (2009), links to e- learning sites and a variety of downloadable resources.
Canadian Transfusion Safety Officers
Provides access to clinical and technical guidelines and a variety of downloadable resources.
Canadian Institutes for Health Research and the Heart and Stroke Foundation of Canada: Offers training in blood transfusion science. http://www.cbr.ubc.ca/STPTS.htm
TraQ Program of the British Columbia Provincial Blood Coordinating Office
Focuses on quality improvement among transfusion medicine professionals through timely sharing of educational resources related to current best practices and guidelines in transfusion medicine. Website offers multiple educational tools, including a resource library, interactive case studies, regulatory information, Canadian, international, industry and government news, job postings, events calendar, patient resources, and more.
Report of the Krever Inquiry into the blood system in Canada.
Provides an extensive account of responses to HIV and Hepatitis C in relation to transfusion in Canada and internationally
Harvard Medical School Fellowship Program in Transfusion Medicine
Offers a core curriculum for blood transfusion. http://www.harvardtransfusion.org/curriculum.pdf
The Joint Commission (Health Care Accreditation)
Accredits and certifies more than 16,000 health care organizations and programs in the United States. 34 www.jointcommission.org/