Blood banking is about people. Laboratorians who work in the blood bank rarely see the donors who supply the blood that they will prepare for transfusion. They rarely meet the patients who receive that blood. The beginning and the end of the work that blood bank laboratorians do are essentially invisible to them. But they never lose sight of the fact that the unseen recipients of transfusions of blood products are the reason for everything they are doing.
As John Meckles, MT(ASCP), author of one of the two Continuing Education (CE) cover stories in this month's issue, “Stewardship of the bloodline: driving safety and efficiency along the transfusion continuum“, points out, “What it takes to make sure that safe blood is constantly available, compatible, and free of disease is a complex balance of driving efficiency to keep pace with the workload of a busy lab and unyielding prioritization of protecting the life of the patient.” He further asserts that today's labs “are finding ways to be efficient and hemovigilant, while never losing sight of the real person at the end of the bloodline.” Meckles eloquently argues that the overriding task of blood bank laboratorians is one of stewardship—protecting blood and blood products while they are in their care so that the patients who receive them can be confident that they are untainted and that they are the proper match for their needs.
Dedicated laboratorians have worked to create and refine processes to make that stewardship more perfect. This issues's other CE story, “Making transfusion medicine information accessible for all” is a fascinating—even inspirational—narrative about one blood bank's successful effort to create an online site for blood bank patient informaton that is easily accessible to both laboratorians and clinicians. April Hord, BB(ASCP), MEd, Steven M. Armstrong, MT(AMT) BB(ASCP)SBB, MSHA, and Susan D. Roseff, MD, of the Virginia Commonwealth University Medical Center (VCUMC), identified a need for a way to centralize and disseminate crucial information, and, by means of a team effort among the blood bank, Clinical Information Systems, and other stakeholders, created a system that does just that. I hope that the eleven widgets and two hyperlinks that make up VCUMC's blood bank page move other laboratorians to undertake similar efforts. Hord et al. do not use the word stewardship, but that is what their dedicated efforts were all about. Blood banking is about people—so it is also about the processes that ensure the well-being of people.
Reflecting on other parts of this month's issue of MLO, I think that stewardship—not just of packed red blood cells, plasma, platelets, cryoprecipitate, etc., but more broadly—is a unifying theme. In writing about “Meeting the technical challenges of personalized medicine and companion diagnostics“, Richard Montagna, PhD, decribes how genomic data can help clinicians more effectively tailor treatments to the genetic predisposition of individual patients. In writing about HAI/MRSA, David DeBonville and John McCune, MT(ASCP), MS HRP, argue that better diagnosis and surveillance will protect patients even as they benefit healthcare institutions. In writing about breast cancer therapeutics David G. Hicks, MD, and Mark D. Cross explain that improved methods of targeting therapies and differentiating precursors of metastasis will increase positive outcomes. In writing about metabolic syndrome Leon F. Hebert Jr., PhD, reveals that research involving ELISA assays that quantify human proinsulin-derived proteins is clarifying the effects of pancreatic beta-cells on hyperglycemia in pre-type 2 diabetes.
These writers share a concern for improving therapeutics for patients that essentially involves stewardship. And not just blood bank personnel, but all laboratorians, are dedicated to the same vital mission. I would be pleased to hear from readers about how your facilities demonstrate stewardship; please write me at [email protected]. And, it is time to submit nominations for the 2012 “Lab of the Year,” to be recognized in the April issue. Please see www.mlo-online.com/LabOfTheYear/ for more information and instructions on how to apply.
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