24EL-412 On-Demand eCast: Immunohematology Boot Camp: Rh System

Live Program Date: Wednesday, March 6, 2024
Program Number: 24EL-412

Educational Track: Technical/Clinical
Topics: Blood Donation & Collection, Patient Transfusion
Intended Audience: Hospital Blood Banks, Laboratory Staff, Managers/Supervisors, Residents/Fellows, Students (MD, MT, SBB), Technologists
Teaching Level: Intermediate

Faculty
(titles and affiliations at the time of the live program)
Director/Moderator: Danielle Mullins, MSTM MLS(ASCP)^CMSBB^CM, Manager, Quality Assurance, Versiti, Milwaukee, WI
Speakers: Lynsi Rahorst, MHPE, MLS(ASCP)SBB^CM, Manager, Education & Training, IRL/Genomics Laboratories, New York Blood Center Enterprises, Kansas City, MO; Sunitha Vege, MS, Technical Director, Genomics Laboratory, New York Blood Center, Long Island City, NY

Program Description
The RH blood group system is complex and is of great importance in transfusion medicine. While alloantibodies directed against Rh antigens are generally clinically significant, unexplained antibodies, autoantibodies and drug antibodies with Rh specificities present unique challenges. Antigen typing discrepancies are not uncommon due to variant RH alleles which are more prevalent in some populations. RH genotyping has expanded our knowledge of the blood group system and can offer further information on antigen expression and alloimmunization risk.

In this program, the faculty will dive into the complexities of the RH blood group system, including details about both serologic and genomic testing so that transfusion medicine professionals may better understand this complex system. Importantly, the focus will be on the implications for patients and donors.

Learning Objectives
After participating in this educational activity, participants should be able to:

• Describe serologic and molecular strategies used to classify antibodies with Rh specificities as alloantibodies, autoantibodies or drug-related antibodies.
• Compare and contrast Rh antigen typing of patients and donors.
• List causes of Rh typing discrepancies and explain how genomics testing is used in investigation of such cases.
• Discuss the implications of RH variants in patients and donors.

How to Claim Continuing Education Credit

• Single Viewers: if you registered as a single viewer, complete the evaluation found on the "CE Information" tab after watching the video. By submitting the evaluation, you are attesting to watching the presentation in its entirety.

• Group Viewers: This is applicable for groups/facilities that purchased Group Viewing access for this program (registration will be verified prior to processing a group viewing attendance log). Group Viewing Coordinators should submit the attendance log to eLearning@aabb.org within 72 hours of the completion/viewing date. Once AABB receives an attendance log, each participant on the attendance log will be granted access as a single viewer to this program and will be required to complete the evaluation in order to claim continuing education credit. Each participant will be required to have an AABB account in order to access this program/platform. If a participant does not have an account, he/she can create one using the same email address provided on the attendance log.