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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
March 28, 2007
DAYTON, OH — (March 28, 2007) Community Blood Center/Community Tissue Services™ (CBC/CTS) in Dayton, OH has announced the formation of a community-wide Transfusion Safety Program. The effort is guided by international hemovigilance programs and national strategic plans from Health & Human Services (HHS), AABB (formerly known as American Association of Blood Banks), America’s Blood Centers (ABC) and other blood organizations. The program is designed to join blood center and hospital professionals together to enhance blood safety and availability, advance clinical practices through scientific evidence, and promote educational opportunities. It encompasses all 25 hospitals currently serviced by the blood center.
“The blood supply is the safest that it has ever been,” stated Judith E. Woll, MD, chief executive officer of CBC/CTS. “That said, there are still risks associated with receiving a transfusion and it is our goal to do all that we can as an organization to reduce those risks for patients in our area and beyond.”
The Transfusion Safety Program will utilize a collective community approach facilitated by the CBC/CTS Transfusion Safety Program director. Current data collection practices for Adverse Events will be standardized to provide objective analysis and interpretation. ‘Near Miss’ event documentation will be collected confidentially and community best practices developed as a standard for patient safety. All data analysis will be shared with the medical community to enhance transfusion practice.
“The over-riding objective is to enhance blood safety and availability,” according to Jodi Minneman, chief operating officer of blood services. “Ultimately, we would like to share what we learn with others to the benefit of patients on a national scope through education and standardization.”
Transfusion Safety also includes effective Blood Management. Blood is a limited community resource. Management of this resource will be examined for variations in ordering practices and utilization issues. Data will be compared to national and international benchmarks. Financial impact will be included. Results will be shared through educational programs to develop evidence-based clinical best practices for the community.
Colleen McGuinness Slapak has been named as Director of the Transfusion Safety Program. Slapak has a Master of Science degree in Blood Transfusion Medicine from the University of Cincinnati and the Hoxworth Blood Center. Slapak is a certified Specialist in Blood Banking (SBB) and an assessor with the AABB Accreditation program. Her past experience includes Technical Manager at a large trauma center and adjunct faculty for the MT program at the local university. Before joining CBC/CTS, Slapak was the Product Manager of blood bank software at Mediware Information Systems, Inc.
Community Blood Center/Community Tissue Services™ (CBC/CTS), an independent, not-for-profit organization, is ISO 9001:2000 Certified. Community Blood Center is the sole provider of blood components to twenty-five hospitals in the Miami (Ohio) and Whitewater (Indiana) Valleys. Community Tissue Services™ serves the public through recovery, processing and distribution of human tissue donations used for transplantation. Community Tissue Services™ is comprised of eight regional offices: Dayton, Ohio (Corporate Headquarters); Fort Worth, Texas; Fresno, California; Indianapolis, Indiana; Memphis, Tennessee; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; Portland, Oregon; and Toledo, Ohio with satellite offices in Boise, Idaho, Medford, Oregon and Connersville, Indiana. For more information about Community Blood Center/Community Tissue Services™, visit www.givingblood.org.
Copyright 2005 Community Blood Center
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