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This paper explores the legislative and operational commonalities and differences in Medical Products of Human Origin (MPHO) programs, including blood, hematopoietic cells, tissues and reproductive cells and human milk banking. The analysis includes ethical principles in donation and utilization, policies and legislation, public awareness and education, registries, guidelines in donor selection, safety and quality assurance, operational models and funding, infrastructure and human resources and biovigilance and evaluation of outcomes. Unlike other MPHO, the need for donor human milk (DHM) may be greatly reduced, that is, by ensuring optimal support for maternal lactation and breastfeeding. This should not be lost in the drive for wider and improved service provision. Nevertheless, increased overall demand for DHM is expected as a result of forthcoming international recommendations and also its increased use as the first‐choice supplement to a mother's own milk both within and beyond preterm, low‐birthweight and sick infant populations. Insight into current human milk banking highlights differences and gaps in practices that can benefit from further exploration and harmonization. Strong similarities with the ethical and operational principles underpinning donation and processing of the diverse MPHO suggest that legislating human milk banks within similar MPHO frameworks may bring additional safety and facilitate improved product quality. Moreover, that MPHO‐inspired models operating within attainable regulatory requirements may contribute to sustainable human milk banking activity and growth. Key messages: The strong similarities with the ethical, quality and safety expectations underpinning the donation and processing of the diverse Medical Products of Human Origin (MPHO) can be harnessed to provide additional safety levels and improved donor human milk (DHM) quality.MPHO‐inspired models operating within attainable regulatory requirements may contribute to sustainable human milk banking activity and growth.The need for DHM may be greatly reduced through optimal support for maternal lactation and breastfeedingCurrent global milk banking practices can benefit from expanded and harmonized, international guidance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Hospital transfusion services order blood products to satisfy orders and maintain inventory levels during unexpected periods of increased blood demand. Surplus inventory may outdate before being allocated to a recipient. Blood product outdating is the largest contributor to blood wastage. Study Design: A province‐wide redistribution program was designed and implemented to redistribute near‐outdate plasma protein and related blood products from low‐usage to high‐usage hospitals. Program operations and details are described in this paper. Two transport container configurations were designed and validated for transport of all blood products. A cost‐analysis was performed to determine the effectiveness of this redistribution program. Results: A total of 130 hospital transfusion services contributed at least one near‐outdate blood product for redistribution between January 2012 and March 2020. These services redistributed 15,499 products through 3412 shipments, preventing the outdating of $17,570,700 CAD worth of product. Program costs were $14,900 for shipping and $30,000 for staffing. Failed time limits or non‐compliance with packing configurations resulted in $388,200 worth of blood products (97 shipments containing 816 products) being discarded. Courier transport delays was the most common reason (42/97; 43%) for transport failure. Conclusion: Redistributing near‐outdate blood products between hospitals is a feasible solution to minimize outdating. Despite heterogeneity of Canadian blood product inventory, all products (each with unique storage and transport requirements) were successfully redistributed in one of two validated and simple containers. Total operation costs of this program were small in comparison to the $17.6 million in savings associated with preventing the discard of outdated products. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background and Objectives: Promotion in academic medicine requires evidence of the creation and dissemination of scholarly output, primarily through peer‐reviewed publications. Studies demonstrate that scholarly activity and impact are lower for women physicians than for men physicians, especially during the early stages of their academic careers. This report reviewed physicians' academic productivity after passing their Blood Banking/Transfusion Medicine (BBTM) subspecialty exam to determine if gender discrepancies exist. Methods: A cross‐sectional analysis was designed to determine trends in scholarly activity for women physicians versus men physicians in BBTM. Indexed publications were reviewed using iCite, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) Office of Portfolio Analysis tool, from 1 January 2017 to 1 December 2021, for BBTM examinees who passed the sub‐speciality fellowship exam in the years 2016 through 2018. Results: Overall, women physicians had statistically significant fewer total career publications (median 6 vs. 9 cumulative papers, p = 0.03). Women published at a lower rate after passing BBTM boards, which was not statistically significant (0.7 vs. 1.3 publications per year). Other statistically significant findings include fewer early‐career BBTM women physicians were first authors compared with men physicians (p = 0.03) and impact as assessed by relative citation ratio was higher for men (p = 0.01). Conclusions: This study demonstrates that there are gender differences in scholarly productivity and impact on early‐career BBTM physicians. Given that this cohort of BBTM physicians are early‐career professionals, the significant difference in first authorship publications between women and men physicians is especially concerning. Publication metrics should be followed to ensure equitable research environments for early‐career BBTM physicians. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Use of the National Healthcare Safety Network (NHSN) has been essential to the success of the Massachusetts Hemovigilance Program and has allowed for the timely identification of signals and trends over a defined population that correlate with national and international hemovigilance (HV) data. Here, we outline how the NHSN system is used for monitoring HV data in Massachusetts and encourage adoption of NHSN for nationwide HV surveillance. Study Design and Methods: A collaboration that grew over time between local HV stakeholders and the Massachusetts Department of Public Health (MDPH) resulted in the change from a paper‐based method of reporting adverse reactions and monthly transfusion activity for compliance with state requirements to replacement with statewide adoption of reporting via NHSN. Results: Over 1.5 million blood products were transfused in Massachusetts between 2017 and 2021, with 3000 adverse reactions among 10 defined types reported. Using NHSN, MDPH has been able to produce numerous reports, publications, and presentations that have made previously non‐obtainable HV and blood utilization data available. Discussion: Although limitations to these self‐reported data exist, such as lack of external validation, successful statewide implementation of NHSN for hospital blood bank reporting is possible and has benefits beyond those for regulatory oversight. It results in standardized, actionable data at both the hospital and state level, enabling inter‐facility comparisons, benchmarking, and opportunities for practice improvement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Dirk de Korte, PhD, passed away on March 22, 2024, at the age of 68. He made significant contributions to the field of transfusion medicine, including the development of a "diversion pouch" that reduced the risk of infection in collected blood. Dirk also worked on optimizing blood component transfusion medicine and played a role in the formulation of platelet additive solutions. He was internationally recognized as an expert in blood components and served on various advisory boards. Dirk's legacy includes over 200 published papers and the mentorship of six PhD students. He will be remembered as a loving husband, father, and grandfather, as well as a warm and knowledgeable individual. [Extracted from the article]

Background: Each unit of red blood cells (RBCs) produced represents a significant cost to the healthcare system. Unnecessary blood wastage should be minimized. In clinical settings, alterations to blood component bags after issue from the protected setting of the blood bank include pen markings, and those that are exposed to an infectious environment require surface disinfecting. These units may be discarded due to unclear effects on RBC quality. In this study, we investigate whether pen markings or surface disinfection negatively affects the quality of packed RBCs and whether pen ink diffuses through the blood bag. Study Design and Methods: RBC bags were marked with pens (water, oil, or alcohol‐based) or subjected to surface disinfection (ethanol, hydrogen peroxide [Preempt wipes], or benzalkonium chloride‐based wipes [CaviWipes]) and sampled 24 h after applying the treatment and at day 42 post collection (n = 3 for each condition). The samples were analyzed for RBC in vitro quality markers. The presence of any ink in the RBC bags was investigated using mass spectrometry (n = 2). Results: Data from 24 h and day 42 time points indicated no differences in RBC count, mean corpuscular volume, morphology, deformability, potassium content, or hemolysis for either pen markings or disinfectants when compared with their untreated controls (p >.05). No trace of ink was detected inside the bag. Conclusion: RBC units marked with ballpoint, gel, or Sharpie pens do not suffer a loss of in vitro quality, nor do RBC units which have been surface disinfected with 70% ethanol, Preempt wipes or CaviWipes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]