54th Annual Meeting
The Blood Banks Association of New York State held its 54th Annual Meeting on May 19-20, 2005, for the first time, at the Turning Stone Casino Resort in Verona, NY. This type of site was an experiment on behalf of the Board of Directors. Traditionally, the Syracuse area meeting has been held in either downtown Syracuse or the Liverpool area. However, for this meeting, the resort was chosen in an effort to try something different. Based on the positive comments received, the experiment was a success. While planning efforts were focused on the educational benefits of the program, holding the meeting at a casino resort contributed to the experience for attendees. Some brought family members and made it a mini-vacation. Some people tried their luck in the casino, while others took a little time to try out one of several golf courses. For those staying overnight, the resort offered a wide variety of restaurants for a relaxing dinner.
The 2005 Annual Meeting Planning Committee consisted of Karla J. Lauenstein, MS, MT(ASCP)SBB (Chairperson), Diane M. Dermody, BB(ASCP), Rachel C. Elder, MD, and Barbara B. Gonnella, MT(ASCP). The committee planned a program intended to be of interest to all levels of staff in transfusion medicine. Scientific sessions were targeted to appeal to physicians and supervisors, nursing/administrative sessions were planned to attract nursing and transfusion service staff and technical sessions were offered for those who primarily perform laboratory testing. CME credits were offered for the scientific sessions and CNE credits were offered for the nursing sessions. All three sessions ran simultaneously, in a classroom style set-up, allowing attendees some flexibility to pick and choose the lectures of the most interest to them. All of the sessions were well attended.
On Thursday morning, the Scientific Session, which saw 70 participants, focused on issues related to platelet components and their transfusion. Neil Blumberg, MD, Director of Clinical Laboratories and Transfusion Medicine/Blood Bank at Strong Memorial Hospital/ University of Rochester, presented "Do Platelet Transfusions Carry Pro-inflammatory and Pro-thrombotic Risks?" Celso Bianco, MD, Executive Vice President of America's Blood Centers, discussed "The Bright Future of Seven-Day Platelets," and Laura Cooling, MD, MS, Associate Medical Director of Transfusion Medicine at the University of Michigan, finished the morning with "Extreme Makeover: Can We Improve Platelet Concentrates?"
The Thursday morning Nursing/Administrative Session was designed to appeal to both nurses involved in blood administration and technologists working in transfusion services. Repeated from last year and featuring some of the same speakers, it proved to be a gain attracting 84 registrants. This was a popular topic repeated from last year and even included some of the same speakers. It was again a popular session with 84 registrants. The program included "Red Blood Cells, Platelets and Plasma: A Primer" presented by Jo Ann Janas, MD, Assistant Medical Director, American Red Cross Blood Services, New York-Penn Region; "Transfusion Reactions: Evaluation and Management" presented by John Burch, MD, Chief Medical Officer, American Red Cross Blood Services, New York-Penn Region; and "Detecting and Preventing Transfusionrelated Errors" presented by Jeanne Linden, MD, MPH, Director, Blood and Tissue Resources, New York State Department of Health. The session concluded with a presentation by Holly Rapp, MT(ASCP),SBB,CQA(ASQ) Mgr, Director, Accreditation and Quality, American Association of Blood Banks, entitled "Transfusion Practices Under the Microscope."
Sandra Nance, MS, MT(ASCP)SBB, Director, American Red Cross National Reference Laboratory for Blood Group Serology, gave a technical workshop on Thursday morning called "Approaches to Solving Immunohematology Problems: Case Study Review." The program was sponsored by the American Red Cross Blood Services New York-Penn Region and attracted 43 registrants.
The Thursday afternoon scientific session addressing blood conservation efforts drew 73 individuals. The speakers were George Despotis, MD, Associate Medical Director of Transfusion Medicine at Washington University Medical Center (Transfusion Risks & Pathophysiology: Prevention of Excessive Bleeding after Cardiac Surgery); Bruce Sachais, MD, PhD, Assistant Professor of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania (Control of Bleeding with rVIIa); David Landsberg, MD, Clinical Assistant Professor at SUNY Upstate Medical University Critical Care Associates of Syracuse (Perioperative Blood Conservation Methods); and Sundara Raman, MD, Director of Coagulation and Therapeutic Apheresis and Associate Physician of Transfusion Medicine at Henry Ford Hospital (Use of Platelet Function Analysis in Clinical Practice).
The Thursday afternoon administrative session was entitled "Safety Issues for Transfusion Medicine"; 68 registrants had interest in this topic. The first speaker was Ann McMican, MS, MT(ASCP)SBB, Associate Director for Administration of University Health Service at the University of Rochester, who presented "Failure Mode Effects Analysis: A Management Tool for Decreasing Risk." This was followed by a presentation of an application of this tool - "ABO Compatibility in Organ Transplantation: A Failure Mode & Effects Analysis," given by Charlene Hubbell, MT(ASCP)SBB, Supervisor of HLA/Stem Cell Laboratories at SUNY Upstate Medical University. After the break, two speakers discussed a very timely topic - blood shortages. Christopher Baldwin, PhD discussed "Blood Shortages - Blood Center Perspectives," based on his experience as Senior Director of Production at New York Blood Center, while Carolyn Whitsett, MD, Director of Transfusion Medicine at Mount Sinai Medical Center, presented "How Hospitals Meet the Challenges of Blood Shortages." A presentation by Noah Bentley, MS, SBB(ASCP), Senior Director of Marketing at Wyndgate Technologies, entitled "Improving Patient Safety Through Positive Patient Identification" concluded the session.
The Thursday afternoon technical workshop took a departure from the usual serology workshop and focused on transfusion reaction workups. The session featured two experts - Jennifer Dikeman, MS, MT(ASCP), QA Supervisor of Transfusion Medicine and Cellular Therapy at New York Presbyterian Hospital/Weill Cornell Medical Center, and Laura Cooling, MD, MS, Associate Medical Director of Transfusion Medicine at the University of Michigan. Fifty-nine individuals registered for the workshop.
Sixty-seven participants signed up for Friday's Scientific Session, which featured a variety of topics. Richard Spence, MD, FACS, Chairman of the Department of Surgery and Medical Director of the Mid-Atlantic Blood Management Center at St. Agnes Healthcare, rounded out the blood management strategies theme with "Blood Management: An Outcome-Based Collaborative Model." This was followed by a presentation by Jay Herman, MD, Director of Transfusion Medicine and Professor of Medicine at Cardeza Foundation of Hematologic Research at Thomas Jefferson University, entitled "Heparin Induced Thrombocytopenia: Diagnosis and Management." Colleen O'Leary, MD, Associate Professor and Interim Chair of the Department of Anesthesiology at SUNY Upstate Medical Center, addressed "Anti-platelet Drugs and Pharmacologic Approaches to Decrease Bleeding." Robert Dracker, MD, Medical Director of Summerwood Pediatrics (formerly North Area Pediatrics) and Infusacare, in Liverpool, NY, concluded the program with "Apheresis Update and Other Tidbits."
Reflecting the increasing use of automation in transfusion services, and more widespread staff shortages, the final administrative session focused on automation options for the transfusion service. Thirty-one attendees listened as Claudia French, MT(ASCP), MBA, kicked off the session with "Introduction to Six Sigma and Lean With a Transfusion Medicine Example." The program then segued to some available automation options. Robert Borley, MS, MT(ASCP)SBB,CQMgr (ASQ), Associate Technical Director of Clinical Laboratories and Blood Services at Stony Brook University Hospital, shared his experience with Immucor Galileo Blood Bank Automation. Candace Williams, MT (ASCP)SBB, from Olympus, presented information pertaining to her company's blood bank instrumentation. Katherine Davis, MT(ASCP)SBB, from Ortho-Clinical Diagnostics, enlightened the audience regarding the Provue and other Ortho-Clinical Diagnostics automation options.
Marilyn Moulds, MT(ASCP)SBB, Vice President of Reference and Education Services at ImmucorGamma, presented Friday's technical workshop, which focused on reagent usage and associated problems. Immucor- Gamma sponsored the workshop, which had an attendance of 40.
This year's meeting received an overwhelming response from our exhibitors. There were 68 exhibitors present, representing 30 companies.
Mark your calendars! Next year's meeting will be held in New York City at New York Blood Center, on June 8-9, 2006.