3 April 2020 (Friday) - A New Resource

The American Society of Hematology have created a a curated COVID-19 resource webpage that is being updated daily with useful links and resources for hematology clinicians and researchers.

You can access it here

I have also created a new label for blog entries which refer to the COVID-19 pandemic. This is the first entry to bear the label. I wonder how many more will do so?

3 April 2020 (Friday) - IBMS Newsletter

The IBMS Newsletter arrived today. There was quite a bit of “SCIENCE!!”, quite a few plugs for commercial kits, and some jobs advertised. But nothing much that affects my daily round.

The IBMS have been getting quite a bit of stick on-line on social media recently. What with the general public being utterly unaware of biomedical scientists several people have been criticising the IBMS for not advertising what we do.

This newsletter is interesting, but is it really value for money for the sixteen quid I pay the IBMS every month?

What *should* the IBMS be doing?

2 April 2020 (Thursday) - Transfusion News Update

The nice people at “Transfusion News” sent their update today:

Convalescent Plasma May be Beneficial to Treat COVID-19

March 30, 2020
COVID-19 has been spreading across the globe since December 2019 and is now a pandemic. With no vaccine or approved drugs for treatment, medical researchers are considering the use of convalescent plasma to treat seriously ill patients. Convalescent plasma is collected from individuals who have recovered from COVID-19 and may [Read More]

Blood Use and Supply during the COVID-19 Pandemic: Early Lessons from Seattle

March 24, 2020
Physicians and colleagues from the Transfusion Medicine and Hematology Divisions at the University of Washington in Seattle and the local blood supplier, Bloodworks Northwest (BWNW), share their expertise on coping with the early stages of the COVID-19 outbreak in their community. [Read More]

1 April 2020 (Wednesday) - Doing the Right Thing

Do you ever look at a request and think “they’ve asked for serum rhubarb when plasma aubergine would be more relevant”?

Patient advocacy is on the increase… maybe I might be of more use by questioning what is requested or doing what is actually appropriate… or would I be better knowing my place?

The nice people at Lablogatory have considered the issue somewhat better than I might seem to have done.

31 March 2020 (Tuesday) - A Freebie

The International Society for Thrombosis and Hemostasis are making a lot of their educational material open to all for the duration of the COVID-19 pandemic.

I shall dip into some of it as and when I can…

30 March 2020 (Monday) - POEMS Syndrome

I saw a diagnosis that was new to me today. POEMS syndrome.  For all that people frown on references to Wikipedia, the link gives a rather succinct summary. Am I totally oversimplifying it by saying that the condition is a complication of myeloma?

Ironically having seen it for the first time today I then saw it a few times over the next few days.

(there’s usually a delay of up to a week between me having the CPD experience and writing it up – six days in this specific case)

30 March 2020 (Monday) - BTLP - TACT

Finding myself with a spare five minutes I thought I might do a quick BTLP-TACT  exercise

I was presented with one case -  a nineteen year old female with a fractured shaft of femur requiring two units of blood within two hours.

She grouped as O Rh(D) positive with a negative antibody screen.

I selected two units which were both c neg and K neg

I got the green light.​