Publications by authors named "Rodrigo Onell"
Background: Regulatory aspects of transfusion medicine add complexity in blinded transfusion trials when considering various electronic record keeping software and blood administration processes. The aim of this study is to explore strategies when blinding transfusion components and products in paper and electronic medical records.
Methods: Surveys were collected and interviews were conducted for 18 sites across various jurisdictions in North America to determine solutions applied in previous transfusion randomized control trials.
Article Synopsis
- Reducing the shelf-life of red blood cells (RBCs) from 42 days to 35 and 28 days was studied to evaluate its effects on blood supply chain management.
- The study found that a shorter shelf-life significantly increased the outdate rate of RBCs and the amount of outdated redistributed units in two Canadian health authorities.
- Overall, decreasing the shelf-life led to more outdated RBCs and higher emergency (STAT) orders, suggesting that current inventory management strategies were not effective in addressing these issues.
Article Synopsis
- High rates of inappropriate immunoglobulin (Ig) usage were found among patients with secondary immunodeficiencies (SIDs) at three hospitals in British Columbia.
- A retrospective chart review covering 2018 and 2019 revealed that new users had better adherence to appropriate usage guidelines than chronic users, primarily due to lack of follow-up IgG testing.
- The study suggests implementing stricter local guidelines to improve Ig usage and ensure proper monitoring and documentation in SID patients.
Background: In March 2020, a state of emergency was declared to facilitate organized responses to the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic in British Columbia, Canada. Emergency blood management committees (EBMCs) were formed regionally and provincially to coordinate transfusion service activities and responses to possible national blood shortages.
Study Design And Methods: We describe the responses of transfusion services to COVID-19 in regional health authorities in British Columbia through a collaborative survey, contingency planning meeting minutes, and policy documents, including early trends observed in blood product usage.
Rh is a complex blood group system with diverse genotypes that may encode weak and partial D variants. Standard serologic analysis may identify clinically significant D variants as D+; nevertheless, individuals with these D variants should be managed as D- patients to prevent antibody formation to absent D epitopes. Variant identification is necessary during pregnancy to allow for timely and appropriate Rh immune globulin (RhIG) prophylaxis for hemolytic disease of the fetus and newborn (HDFN) as D alloimmunization can occur with some D variants.
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