Perspectives: Educating Transfusion Medicine Professionals in Planetary Health and Infectious Diseases: Should Blood Banks Have Dedicated Infectious Diseases Consultation Services? - Scorecard - MDSpire
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Perspectives: Educating Transfusion Medicine Professionals in Planetary Health and Infectious Diseases: Should Blood Banks Have Dedicated Infectious Diseases Consultation Services?
Clinical Scorecard: The Necessity of Training Transfusion Medicine Specialists in Planetary Health and Infectious Diseases: Is There a Need for Specialized Infectious Diseases Consultation in Blood Banks?
At a Glance
Category
Detail
Condition
Transfusion-transmitted infectious diseases (TTIs) and emerging infectious diseases (EIDs) in the blood supply
Key Mechanisms
Hemovigilance and infectious diseases consultation within transfusion medicine to monitor, prevent, and manage TTIs and EIDs influenced by climate change and vector-borne pathogens
Target Population
Patients receiving blood transfusions and blood donors
Care Setting
Academic hospital centers, blood banks, transfusion medicine and blood banking departments
Key Highlights
Few academic centers have dedicated infectious diseases consultation services within transfusion medicine despite the rising threat of TTIs and EIDs.
Dedicated multidisciplinary teams improve clinical education, hemovigilance, and blood safety by monitoring emerging pathogens and refining screening methods.
Climate change accelerates the emergence and reemergence of vector-borne infectious diseases impacting blood supply safety.
Guideline-Based Recommendations
Diagnosis
Implement routine and enhanced infectious diseases testing and monitoring for blood donors and transfusion recipients.
Use multidisciplinary teams to retrospectively and prospectively review clinical testing data to refine screening methods.
Management
Establish dedicated infectious diseases consultation services within transfusion medicine and blood banking departments.
Coordinate with medical microbiologists, hematologists, blood donor centers, and public health agencies to manage TTIs and EIDs.
Adopt culturally competent education programs on blood safety and prevention of emerging infectious diseases.
Monitoring & Follow-up
Track seasonal and epidemiological variations in infectious agents such as West Nile Virus and arboviruses in the blood supply.
Regularly update risk assessment models for TTIs and EIDs in collaboration with national organizations like AABB and Canadian Blood Services.
Risks
Potential transmission of emerging vector-borne and other infectious diseases through blood transfusion.
Insufficient infectious diseases expertise in transfusion medicine may compromise blood safety and hemovigilance.
Patient & Prescribing Data
Patients receiving blood transfusions in hospital settings
Use of blood products such as COVID-19 convalescent plasma requires monitoring for infectious disease efficacy and safety; infectious diseases consultation can optimize transfusion safety.
Clinical Best Practices
Integrate infectious diseases consultation services within transfusion medicine departments to enhance hemovigilance.
Provide multidisciplinary education and training on planetary health and infectious diseases to transfusion medicine fellows and healthcare workers.
Collaborate with public health and blood collection organizations to monitor and respond to emerging infectious threats in the blood supply.
Utilize real-time data and research to adapt infectious diseases screening protocols in blood banks.
Data suggest fewer respiratory syncytial virus–associated hospitalizations and emergency department visits among the youngest infants during the second season of routine prevention product use.
