LPR111-25 - CME/CMLE - No Drop Wasted: Reducing Transfusion Waste Through Innovation and Collaboration

Course Description

Blood product waste continues to be a major challenge in transfusion services. This session highlights history of blood product conservation, practical and scalable strategies implemented in a hospital setting to reduce wastage without compromising patient safety or operational responsiveness. Topics include transport bag redesigns, trauma cooler implementation, and red blood cell / platelet-sharing programs that support emergency preparedness and daily inventory balancing. We will also discuss the impact of cold-stored platelets, liquid plasma, and pathogen reduced cryoprecipitated fibrinogen complex in improving shelf-life flexibility and reducing discard rates. In addition, we’ll share a targeted antisera efficiency project that significantly reduced unnecessary additional antigen-negative unit ordering — reinforcing the value of reevaluating routine practices to identify hidden waste. Every unit we receive represents someone’s time, trust, and commitment — our duty is to ensure every drop counts. While not every solution applies universally, every transfusion service can take steps to better understand and reduce its own sources of waste. The goal is to encourage attendees to reflect on their own systems and explore collaborative, data-driven paths toward improvement.

This session offers 1.0 CME/CMLE credit.

Faculty/Authors

Pearson Theresa

Wright Rahim

Physician Competencies: Patient Care, Medical Knowledge, Practice-Based Learning and Improvement
CME/CMLE Credit: 1.0
Estimated Completion Time: 1 hour
Format: Online Educational Activity

Accreditation Statement: The American Society for Clinical Pathology (ASCP) is accredited by the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education to provide continuing medical education (CME) for physicians. This activity has been planned and implemented in accordance with the Essential Areas and Policies of the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education (ACCME).

Credit Designation Statement: The American Society for Clinical Pathology (ASCP) designates this journal-based CME activity for a maximum of 1 AMA PRA Category 1 Credit(s)™. Physicians should claim only the credit commensurate with the extent of their participation in the activity.

Instructions

To claim CME/CMLE credit for the exercise, do the following:

Review the Technical Considerations.
Review the Faculty Disclosures.
Click Go to Course to view an overview of the modules in this course.
Click Access to begin the course.
Submit the course Evaluation.
Enter the maximum number of credits offered and click Claim CME to register credit.

Faculty Disclosure

Technical Considerations

Release Date: 11/19/2025
Review Date:
Expiration Date:

Summary

Availability:

On-Demand

Credit Offered:

1 CME/CMLE Credit