Resources and responsibility for professional education in blood transfusion therapy

Two current problems in blood transfusion services are the widespread lack of information on this subject among practicing physicians, house staff, and medical students, and the dearth of broadly trained, full-time professionals in the field. Our most important and urgent responsibility is to train physicians who seek full-time careers in any aspect of blood transfusion services, blood center management, hospital transfusion services, research, or combination thereof. Successful training programs require sufficient space, personnel, and funds. In addition, blood centers have a responsibility to educate practicing physicians and house staff by formal teaching sessions, or informally when problems arise. Medical school curricula usually contain little on blood banking; exposure to some basic immunohematology or a visit to a blood center will help sensitize students to the availability of blood. Hospital administrators, regional medical society officers, and corporate medical directors, informed of the blood centers' activities, can help improve relationships between center, hospital, and community.