27 February 2025 (Thursday) - BTLP-TACT Exercise

 Yet another email from the people at BTLP-TACT saying

even though my manager assures me she has done no such thing. So I logged on and had a look.

Again I’m in the green for everything. But as I was logged in anyway I did another exercise. I was presented with one case – a seventy-five year-old woman in A&E with a fractured femur requiring group and save.

She grouped as O Rh(D) Positive with an antibody screen positive in cells 1 and 2. I requested antibody panels.

The IAT panel was positive in cells 2, 3, 5, 7 and 9 corresponding with anti-S, but not excluding anti-E or anti Lu(a). But the enzyme panel was negative, so that did exclude them. In this world…

I got the thumbs up. Should I have done? Bearing in mind this was *exactly* the same case as I had been given eleven days ago I just copied the answer from last time.

 

This BTLP-TACT is such a good idea in theory. In practice it is a work in progress that simply isn’t progressing very much…

I’ve got time on my hands. I’m a dab hand with computers… I wonder if I might be able to help them?

27 February 2025 (Thursday) - Transfusion Evidence Library Update

The nice people at Transfusion Evidence Library sent their update today. More talk about keeping platelets cold, and still more talk of tranexamic acid.

 ARTICLE OF THE MONTH

Tests for diagnosis of postpartum haemorrhage at vaginal birth.
Yunas, I., et al. (2025). The Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews.
PICO SUMMARY

 

 

TOP ARTICLES

Evaluation of cord management strategies in intrauterine growth-restricted infants: a systematic review and meta-analysis.
Aldemerdash, M.A., et al. (2025). European Journal of Pediatrics.

Transfusion efficacy of leucoreduced packed red blood cells prepared by two different methods: a randomized controlled trial in transfusion-dependent thalassaemia patients (FUEL trial).
Arunkumari, A., et al. (2025). Vox Sanguinis. [Record in progress].

Association between peri-operative red blood cell transfusion and cancer recurrence in patients undergoing major cancer surgery: an umbrella review.
Etheridge, J., et al. (2025). Anaesthesia.

DDAVP response and its determinants in bleeding disorders: a systematic review and meta-analysis.
Laan, S.N.J., et al. (2025). Blood. [Record in progress].

Intermediate-dose immune tolerance induction outperforms with faster success, less bleeding, and no added cost in comparison with low dose: a multicenter randomized clinical trial.
Li, Z., et al. (2025). Research and Practice in Thrombosis and Haemostasis.

Early cold stored platelet transfusion following traumatic brain injury: a randomized clinical trial.
Neal, M.D., et al. (2025). Annals of Surgery. [Record in progress].

Tranexamic acid for preventing postpartum haemorrhage after vaginal birth.
Rohwer, C., et al. (2025). The Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews.

Blood component therapy for dry eye disease: a systematic review and network meta-analysis.
Zhang, Y., et al. (2024). Frontiers in Medicine.

Sovleplenib in patients with primary or secondary warm autoimmune haemolytic anaemia: results from phase 2 of a randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled, phase 2/3 study.
Zhao, X., et al. (2025). The Lancet Haematology.

 

26 February 2025 (Wednesday) - HCPC Update

The HCPC sent their update today. You can read it by clicking here. It would seem that next week is CPD week and there’s all sorts of suggestions and ideas about how best one might perform and record CPD.
Personally I find it quite simple;

• Sign up for every mailing list and Facebook group that is remotely relevant and material floods in.
• Keep an eye out for interesting cases at work.
• Watch what seems to be interesting to the bosses – what I so often dismiss as “management nonsense” is actually the future of the profession, and a bit of reflection there means I don’t miss that which I might otherwise flippantly ignore.
• Make a little note of everything you see and hear. A sub-folder in your work email in-box works for me.

Once a week go through your week’s worth of what you’ve accrued. When you have a look you’ll decide to ding out most of it, but there will be one or two snippets of note.
Now – here-s the crucial bit. WRITE THEM UP PROPERLY so you’ve got a record. You can do that on paper, in a notebook, however you like. Me – I like to record it all here as the nice people at Google give me this webspace for free. But however you do CPD, actually do it AND record it… It’s a legal obligation
 
#CPDWeek2025  (I really dislike hashtags!!)

24 February 2025 (Monday) - BTLP-TACT Exercise

It’s raining. I’m *so* bored. Time for a BTLP-TACT exercise. I was presented with two cases:

 

14439 -  a thirty-three year-old woman with iron deficient anaemia requiring group & save.

She grouped as B Rh(D) Positive with a negative antibody screen.

49408 – a twenty-four year-old woman going for a cholecystectomy also requiring group & save.

She grouped as A Rh(D) Positive also with a negative antibody screen.

 

I got the thumbs-up

23 February 2025 (Sunday) - Slide Saturday Challenge

Slide Saturday Challenge. Stomatocytes. There’s a rather insightful article on the things here.

Perhaps I’m a bit daft and a bit sensitive, but seeing stomatocytes gives me flashbacks to when an eighteen year old me was peering down a microscope whilst a rather nasty and vindictive senior MLSO (who I later found out had once fallen out with my uncle) was almost hysterical in his ranting about how useless I was because I couldn’t identify stomatocytes despite never having seen them before and having at best a few weeks’ experience of looking at blood films.

The Royal East Sussex Hospital was a truly delightful place to work all those years ago… but looking back I remember so many of those people with whom I worked and make a point of trying my hardest not to be like they were…

There’s reflection, but probably not how the nice people at the HCPC intend.

21 February 2025 (Friday) - Schistocyte or Fragment

And half an hour after I was so derogatory about the IBMS they sent this excellent review of schistocytes and red cell fragments.

This is the sort of thing the IBMS should be coming up with.

21 February 2025 (Friday) - Horiba Update

The nice people at Horiba sent their update today. A rather good case study on hereditary spherocytosis and a quiz on Levey-Jennings plots.

Something for nothing, and streets ahead of the update from my professional body which costs me over sixteen quid a month which I received yesterday and didn’t have a single article of any relevance to me at all.