Why do people still make anti-D over 50 years after the introduction of Rho(D) immune globulin? A Biomedical Excellence for Safer Transfusion (BEST) Collaborative study.

Background: Rho(D) immune globulin (RhIg) is used to reduce RhD alloimmunization in pregnancy. This study describes potential causes for RhD alloimmunization after the development and implementation of RhIg.

Study Design And Methods: This retrospective descriptive study investigated RhD-negative patients born in 1965-2005 with anti-D newly identified during 2018-2022.

Understanding Health-Related Discussions on Reddit: Development of a Topic Assignment Method and Exploratory Analysis.

Background: Social media has become a widely used way for people to share opinions about health care and medical topics. Social media data can be leveraged to understand patient concerns and provide insight into why patients may turn to the internet instead of the health care system for health advice.

Objective: This study aimed to develop a method to investigate Reddit posts discussing health-related conditions.

A retrospective multi-site examination of chronic kidney disease using longitudinal laboratory results and metadata to identify clinical and financial risk.

Background: A retrospective observational study was conducted at 3 health care organizations to identify clinical gaps in care for patients with stage 3 or 4 chronic kidney disease (CKD), and financial opportunity from U.S. risk adjustment payment systems.

Multi-level factors linked to young adult primary care transitions: evidence from a state all-payer claims analysis.

Objective: Delayed transitions from pediatric to adult primary care leads to gaps in medical care. State all-payer claims data was used to assess multilevel factors associated with timely transition from pediatric to adult primary care.

Materials And Methods: We created a cohort of 4,320 patients aged 17-20 in 2014-2017 continuously enrolled in health insurance 36 months between 2014 and 2019 and attributed to a pediatric provider in months 1-12.

Rh immune globulin immunoprophylaxis after RhD-positive red cell exposure in RhD-negative patients via transfusion: A survey of practices.

Background: Current Association for the Advancement of Blood & Biotherapies (AABB) standards require transfusion services to have a policy on Rh immune globulin (RhIG) immunoprophylaxis for when RhD-negative patients are exposed to RhD-positive red cells. This is a survey of AABB-accredited transfusion services in the United States (US) regarding institutional policies and practices on RhIG immunoprophylaxis after RhD-negative patients receive RhD-positive (i.e.

A global analysis of the use of immunoglobulin, shortages in supply, and mitigating measures: A survey of hospital providers (a BEST Collaborative study).

Background: Immunoglobulin (IG) therapy is widely used to treat primary and secondary immune deficiencies and as immunomodulatory agent for various disorders. There is great concern that shortages of IG may rise, potentially affecting medical treatment options.

Study Design And Methods: An international survey was developed to study how intravenous immunoglobulins (IVIGs) are used and managed within hospitals in case of shortages.

Classification of posttransfusion adverse events using a publicly available artificial intelligence system.

Background: Correct classification of transfusion reactions is important not only for effective patient care and donor management but also for accurate tracking of events in hemovigilance systems. We compared the ability of a generative artificial intelligence (AI) system to correctly diagnose hypothetical clinical situations as transfusion reactions in comparison to previous studies reporting the accuracy of transfusion medicine (TM) specialists in assessing these cases.

Methods: An AI system was requested to assess 36 case scenarios to provide a diagnosis, severity, and imputability of the transfusion reactions using the CDC National Healthcare Safety Network (NHSN) criteria.

Defining and identifying laboratory literacy as a component of health literacy: An assessment of existing health literacy tools.

Health literacy has been defined and studied as an important component of a patient's ability to understand and obtain appropriate healthcare. However, a laboratory component of health literacy, as it pertains to the understanding of laboratory tests and their results, has not been previously defined. An analysis of readily available health literacy tools was conducted to determine laboratory testing-specific content representation.

Understanding barriers and facilitators of appropriate antibiotic use: a qualitative analysis of an online parenting forum.

Purpose: Antibiotic use and misuse are common in pregnant women and young children. Few studies have assessed real-world discussions of antibiotics in these populations. Using social media posts of pregnant women and parents, our goal was to identify key themes about facilitators and barriers to appropriate antibiotic usage.

Optimizing Informed Consent Discussions: Developing a Narrative for Transfusion Consent.

Ensuring patient informed consent is a key tenet of modern medicine. Although transfusion of blood products is among the most common medical procedures performed in hospitalized patients, there is evidence that informed consent for transfusion is at times incomplete, poorly understood, hurried, and/or inaccurate. This study aimed to develop a narrative that can be used as a framework for practicing physicians and for educational purposes to optimize the process for obtaining informed consent for blood transfusion.

A Primer on Gene Editing.

Context—: Gene editing-based therapies are currently in development in the areas of oncology, inherited disease, and infectious disease. These potentially life-altering therapies are derived from decades of research in both academic and industry settings that developed technologies rooted in principles and products of nature. However, with such technologic developments come many important considerations, including adverse risks, high cost, and ethical questions.

A Review of Laboratory Practices Using the HLA-B27 Survey by the College of American Pathologists: How Important Is Allele-Level Typing?

Context.—: Ankylosing spondylitis (AS) is an autoimmune disorder with a strong genetic risk, especially with HLA-B27. Clinical testing for HLA-B27 has been used to help diagnose patients with signs and symptoms of AS.

Incorporating the entity of under-transfusion into hemovigilance monitoring: Documenting cases due to lack of inventory.

Background: Under-transfusion is an underreported entity within most hospitals and hemovigilance systems. While critical blood shortages are being reported more frequently, without incident codes to document instances of under-transfusion due to lack of inventory, estimating its impact on patient care as it relates to hemotherapy (HT) has hampered our ability to assess and inform strategic initiatives to combat inventory issues as well as prepare for future blood supply threats.

Study Design And Method: An 11-member working group of the AABB (Association for the Advancement of Blood and Biotherapies) Hemovigilance Committee was formed in October 2020 to study the topic of under-transfusion including its potential causes and clinical expressions.

Preparation of clinical-grade WBCs using leukocyte reduction filters.

Objective: Our goal was to develop a simpler and less expensive method of obtaining human clinical-grade WBCs using an alternative method to continuous leukapheresis. Our purpose for the WBCs is to arm them with rabbit anticancer antibodies for a phase I clinical trial.

Methods: Using leukocyte reduction filters (LRFs) discarded from the blood bank, we evaluated multiple variables to maximize recovery of WBCs with the lowest contamination of RBCs.

The safety of COVID-19 convalescent plasma donation: A multi-institutional donor hemovigilance study.

Background: Although the safety and therapeutic efficacy of COVID-19 convalescent plasma (CCP) has been extensively evaluated, the safety of CCP donation has not been explored in a multi-institutional context.

Study Design And Methods: Nine blood collection organizations (BCOs) participated in a multi-institutional donor hemovigilance effort to assess the safety of CCP donation. Donor adverse events (DAEs) were defined according to the Standard for Surveillance of Complications Related to Blood Donation, and severity was assessed using the severity grading tool.

All Hands-On Deck and All Decks on Hand: Surmounting Supply Chain Limitations During the COVID-19 Pandemic.

Testing during the COVID-19 pandemic has been crucial to public health surveillance and clinical care. Supply chain constraints-spanning limitations in testing kits, reagents, pipet tips, and swabs availability-have challenged the ability to scale COVID-19 testing. During the early months, sample collection kits shortages constrained planned testing expansions.

Pediatric resident knowledge of transfusion medicine: Results from the BEST-TEST3 international education needs assessment.

Background: Transfusions are a common intervention within pediatrics and require unique considerations to optimize patient care. Poor knowledge of evidence-based transfusion practice can lead to misuse of transfusion therapy and harm. While there have been assessments of transfusion medicine knowledge of physicians caring for adult patients, there is little data regarding pediatricians.