I just left the closing from our every-other-year inspection by the Association for the Advancement of Blood & Biotherapies of our Blood Bank and Transfusion Medicine Services. The Surveyor spent a day and a half with the team with a fine-tooth comb, as the AABB does.
Because of our best practice of 100% transfusion audits, the surveyor did not need to observe a transfusion in process as she was 100% confident in our processes. The surveyor identified ZERO non-conformances with the standards!
The surveyor most notably expressed that she has never seen a hospital our size or complexity with the Transfusion Safety Officers so well integrated with our nurses and providers.
Besides my acknowledgement of the outstanding work by our exceptional Blood Bank, Transfusion Committee and our Pathologists, I want to express my own appreciation to Dr. Gulshan Sharma and Josette Armendariz-Batiste for advancing this culture of safety in which UTMB values the unique expertise of all its professionals.
—Submitted by Jim Amato, vice president, Academic Medical Center, Galveston