An outcome-based review of an accredited Specialist in Blood Banking (SBB) program: 25 years and counting.

Specialist in Blood Banking (SBB) programs play an important role in preparing technologists to become leaders and contributors to the field of transfusion medicine through dedicated education and training. The SBB program at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) Clinical Center has graduated 55 students since 1994 with an overall pass rate of 96 percent for the American Society for Clinical Pathology (ASCP) SBB examination. Graduates hold positions in a variety of transfusion medicine-related fields, with hospitals, blood centers, and Immunohematology Reference Laboratories being the most common categories of employer.

Inhibition of blood group antibodies by soluble substances.

The presence of multiple alloantibodies or an antibody to a highprevalance antigen in a patient sample can pose challenges in antibody identification. The pattern of reactivity seen on an antibody panel may show various strengths of reactivity by different methods of testing or same strength of reactivity at one or more phases of testing. To ensure proper identification, multiple investigative tools may be used.