Chairperson and committee
Chairperson: Nigar Ertuğrul Őrüç (Türkiye)
Vice chair: Christian Seidl (Germany)
Board members:
Tomislav Vuk (Croatia)
Lesley Bust (South Africa)
Wade Atkins (USA)
Yan Qiu (China)
WP Subgroups - leaders
- Database (survey) on quality management standards and criteria, Christian Seidl, Tomislav Vuk
- Quality indicators for Blood Establishments (BE) and Hospital Blood Banks (HBB), Tomislav Vuk
- Harmonization of definitions in quality management, Lesley Bust
- Training, education and eLearning, Christian Seidl, Lesley Bust, Nigar Ertuğrul Őrüç
Membership
The Working Party has 51 members from 22 countries. Five new members were welcomed in the reporting period. .
Member organisations 2018-2024:
- Chinese Society for Blood Transfusion CSBT (Zhengrong Zou), Shanghai, China
- Diagnostic Accreditation Programme (Susanna Darnel, ART), Vancouver, Canada
- ISTM Quality special interest group (Nidhi Bhatnagar), Ahmedabad, India
- EU | FH Public Health Education and Prevention (Gesine Weckmann), Rostock, Germany
- Health Education and Research Organization (HERO) (Beukou Fonkou Hygin Steve) Cameron
- Dept. Transfusion Medicine & Haematology, NIMHANS (Vijay Kumawat), Bengaluru, India
- Blood Bank Takhasousi Habib Hospital, (Ahmed Yousef M. Almudayni), Riyadh, Saudi Arabia
Cooperating Partners:
- EuBIS Academy
Meetings and Teleconferences
- May 28, 2024 (Online Board Meeting): Discussed the QM-WP activity profile and subgroups, session plans for ISBT Barcelona 2024, and revision of the Terms of Reference (ToR).
- June 24, 2024 (Hybrid Business Meeting at ISBT Barcelona): Six virtual participants joined. Topics included the annual report, subgroup updates (database on standards, quality indicators, definition harmonization, training/education), publications (Transfusion Today April 2024), contribution to a WHO workshop in Ethiopia, collaboration with ISBT and WHO, ToR revision, recruitment strategies, and future planning.
- March 31, 2025 (Online Business Meeting): Covered subgroup updates (including a new subgroup on "vein-to-vein" standardization), training/education activities, collaborations (e.g., with the ISBT Global Blood Safety WP, GAPP-PRO project, educational programs in India and Korea), planning for an ISBT Milan 2025 scientific session on the new SoHO regulation, future webinars, workshops, publication topics, and funding needs. Recruitment of new members was also discussed.
- Ongoing Communications: Several teleconferences and emails coordinated activities related to Transfusion Medicine and Vox Sanguinis articles and the ISBT Milan 2025 session on the SoHO regulation.
Activities during the period
Articles in Transfusion Today (April 2024):
Five short articles were published under "IN FOCUS - Tips and Tools for Quality Management":
- Quality indicators history and developments (Vuk T.)
- Definitions in blood establishment quality management (Bust L.)
- SWOT analysis for quality and business improvement (Atkins J.W.)
- Managing non-conformances (Bowie G.)
- Human factors in error management (Bust L.)
Kahoot Quiz: A set of quality management questions was created and shared online.
E-learning/online education
The QM-WP collaborated with Global Blood Safety Working Party (GBS-WP) to support a WHO webinar (hybrid) on GMP for blood establishments in Ethiopia. The GBS-WP serves as a planning group for the International Coalition for Safe Plasma Proteins (ICSPP) and the goal of the ICSPP is to advance access to safe plasma protein products in LMICs. The ICSPP works in cooperation with WHO through an agreement with ISBT.
Scientific Session at ISBT Congress Barcelona (June 25, 2024): Session titled "Quality requirements for SoHo - the risk-based approach", covering topics like new EU regulations, haemovigilance, risk-based quality monitoring, and WHO guidance.
Young Professionals Breakfast (June 25, 2024): Nigar Ertuğrul Örüç participated as a mentor.
External Advisory Board Membership (GAPP-PRO): QM-WP joined the GAPP-PRO project (EU-funded) on behalf of ISBT Christian Seidl and Nigar Ertuğrul Örüç.
Publications:
- Quality indicators for blood establishments and hospital blood banks report accepted (April 4, 2025).
- Definitions utilised in quality management report submitted for review.
Mentors for ISBT Young Professionals:
- Europe, Arabia, Africa: Christian Seidl, Nigar Ertuğrul Örüç
- Asia Pacific, New Zealand, Australia: Yan Qiu
- North and South America: Wade Atkins
