Leadership Certificate in Blood Banking and Transfusion Medicine

This program is offered entirely online – independent and self-paced – through AABB's Education Platform. Learners must complete all domains, assessments and a program evaluation within the year to receive the Certificate of Completion. If learners are unable to complete the program within the one-year period and still wish to complete the program, they must either re-purchase the program at full price if access has been removed or submit a retake form (includes a reduced fee of $79), which will provide an additional 12 months of access and two additional attempts on any failed domain assessment(s).

Purchase of individual domains/modules is not permitted.

Fees

Individual Registration Pricing:

• AABB Individual Member: $879
• Individual Nonmember: $1,159

Institutional Registration Pricing:

• Institutions will receive 15% off the list price when purchasing four (4) or more individual registrations at the same time (bulk registration). The list price for each individual learner will be determined by the institution's AABB membership status.

Assessment Retake Fee:

• $79 (member/nonmember)
  Contact the AABB eLearning team at eLearning@aabb.org to request the Retake Form. It is recommended to complete all domain assessments before requesting a retake.

How To Register

Individuals can register online via the AABB Store. If you do not have an account, you will be prompted to create one. Payment confirmation and access to the program will be provided immediately after registering.

Institutions that want to purchase registrations for learners must complete and return the Institutional Registration Form. Payment confirmation will be provided within 2-5 business days.

Discounted Rate for Learners in Low-Income and Lower-Middle-Income Countries

*Residents of qualifying countries may be eligible for a discounted AABB Membership. Join now or contact membership@aabb.org.

Low-Income/Lower-Middle-Income Institutional Registration Pricing

• Eligible institutions will receive 15% off the discounted list price when purchasing four (4) or more individual registrations at the same time (bulk registration). The list price for each individual learner will be determined by the institution’s AABB membership status and residency.

How to Qualify

Only professionals living and working in or facilities/organizations based in countries classified as Low-Income or Lower-Middle-Income Economies by the World Bank are eligible for the discounted registration fee. Eligible countries are based on those defined as Low-Income and Lower-Middle-Income Economies by the World Bank. Please visit the World Bank website to view the current list of qualifying Low-Income and Lower-Middle-Income countries (listing appears at the bottom of the page).

Supporting documentation must be submitted and verified by AABB (see applicable registration form for details). If the documentation does not meet requirements for the Low-Income or Lower-Middle-Income developing country discount, AABB reserves the right to change the registration to the appropriate fee and registration will not be confirmed until the balance is paid. Participation in this special discount program is not automatically guaranteed or renewed each year. No other discounts or promotional offerings will be applicable or applied.

How to Register

Low/Lower-Middle-Income Residents – download the registration form, complete and submit with payment and required documentation.

Institution/Facility Residents – download Low/Lower-Middle-Income Institutional registration form, complete and submit with payment and required documentation.

• Domain 1: Blood Banking and Transfusion Medicine Fundamentals
  This domain focuses on ensuring the safe and effective use of blood products in transfusion medicine. This includes identifying blood types and antibodies to prevent mismatches, selecting appropriate blood products for patients, and following regulations and standards for collection, storage and transfusion. This domain also covers patient and recipient communication, including explaining the blood donation and transfusion process and notifying donors, recipients and their families regarding abnormal findings in a manner accessible to non-professionals. This domain is broken into four modules:

  • Determining Appropriate Blood Products
  • Determining Donor Eligibility
  • Defining the Process: From Collection to Transfusion
  • Describing Appropriate Communication and Referrals

• Domain 2: Quality
  This domain covers the leader's role in ensuring quality and safety in a blood bank or transfusion medicine setting. Learners will explore conducting root cause analyses, implementing corrective actions, directing safety training and conducting internal assessments to improve quality systems. Additionally, the Quality domain involves tracking and evaluating corrective actions, managing non-conforming products and ensuring compliance with relevant guidelines and regulations such as AABB, CLIA and FDA. This domain is broken into six modules:

  • Quality Management Plan
  • Conducting Assessments
  • Conducting Internal Audits
  • Conduct Root Cause Analysis
  • Describe Safety Training and Safety Data Sheets (SDS)
  • Identify Patient or Donor Complaints

• Domain 3: Regulatory Compliance
  This domain involves ensuring compliance with regulatory requirements and standards in the blood banking and transfusion medicine environment. Topics include registering and updating FDA licenses, implementing process changes and reporting them to regulatory bodies and ensuring current practices align with regulations. The domain also covers identifying and implementing new regulatory requirements, ensuring staff competence, overseeing supplier audits and managing product usage in accordance with SOPs and manufacturer instructions, among other responsibilities. This domain is broken into three modules:

  • Managing Registration and Reporting
  • Staying Compliant
  • Managing Inspections and Assessments

• Domain 4: Operations Management
  The Operations Management domain focuses on ensuring efficient blood inventory management, staff scheduling, assessing risk and preparing for disaster, and qualifying and maintaining equipment in blood banking or transfusion medicine settings. Tasks discussed include tracking inventory, adjusting blood product levels and scheduling staff to maintain efficient workflow. It also includes developing disaster plans, drafting policies, and ensuring training and competency. Additionally, this domain discusses applying standard manufacturing techniques to blood products and ensuring validations and testing are completed. This domain is broken into three modules:

  • Scheduling Staff and Managing Inventory
  • Maintaining Your Equipment
  • Managing Risks and Planning for Disaster

• Domain 5: Administration
  The Administration domain discusses managing administrative functions in a blood banking and transfusion medicine facility. This includes managing vendor and customer relationships and contracts, ensuring expenses align with the operating budget, and recommending capital investments based on analysis and operational goals. Additionally, it involves completing billing and invoice procedures, identifying operational risks, and developing risk mitigation strategies. This domain also covers ensuring facility maintenance and safety standards are met. This domain is broken into three modules:

  • Managing Vendor Contracts
  • Managing Your Budget and Expenses
  • Laboratory Health and Safety

• Domain 6: Information Technology (IT) Systems
  The Information Technology Systems domain covers how to manage Information technology systems and processes in a blood banking and transfusion medicine facility. This includes working with IT to establish and maintain a reporting system that meets regulatory requirements and supports operational evaluation. Additionally, it involves ensuring compliance with electronic record management and document control policies, identifying IT needs, and coordinating solutions. This domain also covers developing and testing downtime protocols for Laboratory Information Systems (LIS) or Blood Establishment Computer Systems (BECS). This domain is broken into three modules:

  • Determining IT Requirements
  • Developing Downtime Protocols
  • Other IT Considerations

• Domain 7: Personnel Leadership and Management
  The Personnel Leadership and Management domain discusses building strong relationships, managing teams and developing personnel. This domain involves fostering relationships with stakeholders, managing teams to meet objectives, and evaluating team members for competency and career development. It also includes coordinating student rotations, mentoring new employees and conducting effective employment interviews. Additionally, this domain covers leading team meetings, ensuring staff education and certification, managing employee retention and labor rights and resolving conflicts, among other people leadership competencies. This domain is broken into five modules:

  • Building Constructive Working Relationships
  • Managing Employee Labor Rights
  • Hiring and Onboarding
  • Managing Performance
  • Developing Employees

Read and study all materials for each module and complete each activity as presented. Follow the modules in order as information builds upon preceding lessons. Since this is a self-paced program, learners may decide how much time is needed to review and study the materials. It is estimated that it will take approximately 25-35 hours to complete the program. A suggested strategy is to create a study plan or timeline for completing each domain. Follow that plan to ensure timely completion within the year that you will have access to the program.

Assessment and Grading to Obtain Certificate

For successful completion of the program resulting in conferral of the AABB Leadership Certificate in Blood Banking and Transfusion Medicine:

1. Read and carefully study each slide in each module.
2. Complete all the activities within each module.
3. After each domain, you will be provided with an assessment. Answer all of the assessment questions; scoring 80% or higher. The assessment is a pass/fail exercise where learners will have two (2) opportunities to achieve 80% or higher. There is no grade provided for each assessment; rather an opportunity to reinforce your understanding of the content provided in the program.
   On each assessment:
   
   • Learners will receive questions (i.e., multiple choice, true-false questions) and asked to select the correct answer.
   • Learners will receive feedback as to whether an answer choice is correct or incorrect.
4. Complete the Leadership Certificate in Blood Banking and Transfusion Medicine Program Post-Program Evaluation (Certificate of Completion issued).
5. Claim continuing education (CE) credit type (CE certificate issued).

This program is eligible for 30 continuing education credits/contact hours for California Nurses, California Lab Personnel, Florida Lab Personnel and General Participation credit, which can be used toward ASCP maintenance of certification. The number and type of credits awarded for this program was determined by the estimated program completion time. This program is not eligible for continuing medical education (CME) credit. For more information on each credit type, please visit the AABB Continuing Education Credits webpage. A continuing education certificate of completion will be immediately provided to learners upon reviewing all seven domains and their applicable modules, successful completion of all domain assessments, completion of the program evaluation and claiming your continuing education credit type.

While there are numerous participants that have brought this program to fruition, key faculty include (titles and affiliations at the time of program development):

Content Authors

• Steven M. Armstrong, DHA, MLS(AMT), SBB(ASCP), FACHE
  Senior Director, Reference Laboratories and Transfusion Services – NE Division
  Vitalant

  Karafa S.W. Badjie, MS, MLS (ASCP) SBB
  Transfusion Service Manager
  Mayo Clinic

  Suzanne H. Butch, MLS(ASCP)^CM, SBB^CM, DLM^CM
  Pathology Administration
  Michigan Medicine

  Celia P. Clifford
  Senior Vice President
  Quality Safety, Regulatory Affairs I Service Delivery
  American Red Cross Biomedical Services Headquarters

  Edward Griffin, MBA, MS, CLS, MLS(ASCP)SBB, CQA(ASQ), PMP
  Director, Transfusion Medicine
  Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine
  Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center

  Daniela Hermelin, MD, CABP
  Chief Medical Officer
  ImpactLife
  Assistant Professor of Pathology
  Saint Louis University School of Medicine

  Mary A. Lieb, MT(ASCP)SBB, CQA(ASQ)
  Independent Technical and Quality Consultant

  Alicia Prichard, MBA, MT(ASCP)SBB
  Senior Vice President Biologics, Laboratories and Supply Chain
  OneBlood, Inc.

  Linda Rockwood, MS(CLM), MLS (ASCP)^cm, CQA(ASQ)
  Director of Laboratory Services
  Anna Jaques Hospital

  Jean Stanley, MBA, MLS(ASCP)SBB, CMQ/OE(ASQ)CQA
  Global Medical Affairs Lead, Donor Screening
  Roche Diagnostic Solutions

  Ricardo Sumugod, MS, MLS(ASCP)SBB
  Director, Blood Bank and Esoteric Testing
  Systemwide Laboratory Administration
  Northwestern Memorial Healthcare

  Quynh Vantu, CSQE, CQA, CMDA, PMP, CPHIMS, CHTS-CP-IM, FACHE
  Director of Operations
  Department of Veterans Affairs

  Susan M. Wilson, MLS(ASCP)SBB
  Independent Consultant

Advisory Panel

• Daniel Alvarado
  Lab Manager
  New York Presbyterian Hospital

  Steven M. Armstrong, DHA, MLS(AMT), SBB(ASCP), FACHE
  Senior Director, Reference Laboratories and Transfusion Services – NE Division
  Vitalant

  Terri Craddock, MBA, MLS(ASCP), HP
  Director
  Inova Blood Services

  Melissa Cushing, MD
  Director of Transfusion Medicine and Cellular Therapy
  Weill Cornell Medicine

  Vonya Drinnon, BS, MT(ASCP)
  Reference Lab Administrator, Lab Technical Manager
  Blood Assurance

  Marlene Feliciano
  Blood Bank Supervisor
  Holyoke Medical Center

  Edward Griffin, MBA, MS, CLS, MLS(ASCP)SBB, CQA(ASQ), PMP
  Director, Transfusion Medicine
  Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine
  Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center

  Brenda Grossman, MD, MPH
  Prof of Pathology and Immunology, Prof. of Hematology
  Washington University, St Loius

  Cindy Ingold, MT(ASCP)SBB, CQA(ASQ)
  Transfusion Medicine Manager
  Barnes Jewish

  Tina Ipe, MD
  Associate Professor and Medical Director
  UAMS Blood Bank & Transfusion Division

  Nick Lilly
  Compliance and Regulatory Affairs Manager
  Inova Blood Donor Services, VA

  Rami Nemeh
  Vice President, Chief Operating Officer
  Miller – Keystone Blood Center

  Susan Noone, MPH, CQA(ASQ)
  Regional Director
  Vitalant

  Adrian O'Neal
  Immunohematology Reference Laboratory Manager
  Miller-Keystone Blood Center

  Melissa Pearl, MBA
  Director, Hospital Services and Manufacturing
  Blood Bank of Alaska

  Melanie Sloan
  Senior Director, Accreditation and Quality
  Association for the Advancement of Blood and Biotherapies (AABB)

AABB Staff Contributors

• Sharon Carayiannis, MT(ASCP)HP
  Vice President, Accreditation, Standards, & Quality

  Tracie Nichols, MS, MLS(ASCP)^CM, SBB
  Director, Compliance and Domestic Outreach

  Karen Palmer, MT(ASCP), CQA(ASQ)
  Director, Regulatory Affairs

  Faiqa Sadique, MS, SBB, MT(ASCP), CQA(ASQ)
  Director, CT Programs and Global Outreach

  Melanie Sloan, MS, MT(ASCP) SBB, CQA(ASQ)
  Senior Director, Accreditation and Quality

  Matthew Swingholm, MS, MLS(ASCP)SBB^CM
  Project Development Manager

A leading instructional design company, Canadian Management Centre (CMC), was engaged to create the interactive eLearning experience. CMS was also responsible for the development of the AABB and Canadian Blood Services Individual Donor Assessment modules.

AABB wishes to thank QuidelOrtho for its contribution to the field including their generous support of workforce initiatives and this program.

Learn more about Dr. Philip Levine’s legacy and contributions to transfusion medicine.