ISBT Transfusion Medicine Courses for the Arabic Speaking Countries  

Goal  

To establish a series of ISBT-Transfusion Medicine Courses (ISBT-TMCs)as an educational activity for the Arabic speaking countries.

Introduction  

Several training and development activities in transfusion medicine and science have been taking place in the East Mediterranean region, on regular basis.

The East Mediterranean regional office of the WHO has over the last 15 years held regular meetings for government representatives to stimulate and follow up the progress in improving the quality of transfusion practice in the various countries of the region. The effect of these endeavours has been substantial and resulted in tangible improvements as well as the creation of two WHO accredited centres and several initiatives leading to active modernisation of many transfusion centres in this region.

The region will benefit from supplementing these formal meetings by regular professional educational meetings, recognised by the ISBT and WHO, to allow genuine sharing of experience and debate at a professional level by transfusion medicine specialists.

Meetings of Transfusion medicine professionals under the auspices of the ISBT can be a landmark regional activity that can provide international legitimacy and credibility to conduct a series of well-structured educational courses, along the lines of the model used by the ESTM [ European school of Transfusion Medicine], which has already proved to be of value to assist transfusion medicine workers in East and Central Europe.


These ISBT Transfusion Medicine Courses (ISBT-TMCs) will benefit from being supported both by the ISBT and the WHO regional office as well as the local national and regional blood transfusion societies.

This initiative will be guided by the regional strategy of the ISBT and the Blood Safety plans of the East Mediterranean Who Regional Office.
 

Aims and objectives  

•  Raise awareness among transfusion medicine workers at all levels regarding important and up-to-date professional issues

•  Establish a professional forum for training and personal development of transfusion medicine workers in the region

•  Build a professional focus of transfusion medicine workers that is well informed and able to influence government transfusion medicine policies in the region

•  Provide regional opportunities for individual and personal development for transfusion medicine workers, who are not able to attend and participate in formal regional activities and international meetings

•  Establish a professional forum for information and experience-sharing in a structured way on regular basis.

Steering committee and executive team  

In order to ensure the success of this initiative, we propose to have in place a steering committee with a small executive team.

The function of the Steering Committee is to provide direction and support for the strategy proposed by the executive team.

The executive team will be responsible for developing the strategy, its practical implementation and its evaluation.

The executive team shall be also responsible to provide the ISBT secretariat and the WHO regional office with regular reports of its activities in the region.

Through all its activities the executive team shall follow the conditions and regulations required from similar groups affiliated to the ISBT.

A small group of interested transfusion medicine specialists discussed informally the above project proposal with the Regional ISBT Councillor (Dr Faten Moftah) and the ISBT General Secretary (Dr Paul Strengers) as well as the WHO Regional Advisor on Blood Safety (Dr Nabila Metwalli). They all expressed general support in principle.

This was taken one step further and the following names were proposed and agreed to be members of the steering committee:

Dr Nabila Metwalli, EMRO, WHO

Dr Paul Strengers, ISBT

Dr Umberto Rossi, ESTM

Dr John Barbara, UK

Dr Salwa Hindawi , Saudi Arabia

Dr Kamal Boukef , Tunisia

Additional expert advisers can be consulted as steering committee and course advisers as and when required

The founder members of the executive team are:

Dr Gamal Gabra, Transfusion Medicine Specialist, International

Dr Faten Moftah Transfusion Medicine Specialist, ISBT Regional Councillor for EMR

Dr Magdy Elekiaby, Transfusion Medicine Specialist, Egypt

The composition of the steering committee is not based on country representation. The selection was based on the knowledge of the expertise and resources in the region and the compatibility of the individuals selected to work effectively with each other. It represents a group of like- minded individuals who have previous experience of working together, and who share similar aspirations and vision to improve the quality of transfusion practice and facilitate the professional development of transfusion workers in the region.

 

Strategy and plan  

It is proposed to have two courses a year. The themes of the courses are to be selected in order to cover the most relevant topics in transfusion medicine and science.

It is proposed that each course is to consist of didactic lectures and workshops. It aims to result in a set of specific recommendations to be used by the ISBT and the WHO to further the goals of the Courses. The WHO regional office will be requested to communicate these recommendations directly to the appropriate health authorities in the region and through its web site to facilitate their implementation.

The venue of each course is to be decided in advance and other local or regional organisations may be invited to assist in the organisation as and when required.

Faculty  

The teachers, facilitators and faculty, are to be selected for each course from the regional and international experts. The selection will aim to ensure that the standard and content of the course is in keeping with up-to-date and state of the art developments in blood transfusion practice.

Courses will normally be conducted in English, but some of the proceedings may be in French and or Arabic. Abstracts, publications, recommendations and reports to ISBT shall be prepared in English.


Participants  

Participation in these courses will be open to all workers in transfusion services in the region in the first place, but participants from outside the region may also be able to attend.

Special effort is to be made to ensure that targeted participants are invited to participate and efforts made to facilitate their attendance.

Contents of the courses are aimed at medical practitioners, senior technologists and senior nursing and managerial staff.

Funding  

Participants should be able to request from their employers the funds to attend and should be required to raise their own fees.

Funding agencies that may be solicited, for support or sponsorships, include: the ISBT, the WHO, the local and regional transfusion societies and industry. Any other source of funding may be acceptable providing it is in keeping with WHO and ISBT good practice criteria and does not constitute any breach of the individual professional and ethical values

The fees for attendance should be set by the executive team to cover the cost of the organisation of the course, the publication and any other expenses, to ensure that each individual course is self-funding on a not-for-profit basis.

The budget, income and expenses are to be maintained and monitored subject to ISBT regulations.

Evaluation

 

A system will be put in place to measure objectively the value and contribution of each course to the improvement in the quality of transfusion practice.

Guidance and experience of expert organisations will be sought to ensure that the evaluation tools are appropriate to ensure that these courses are modified so that they are effective in meeting the stated objectives and in contributing to the overall improvement of the quality of transfusion practice in the region.


Proposed activities in 2005 

The theme for the first course is proposed to be "The legal and regulatory framework for transfusion Services"  

This inaugural course is proposed to take place in Egypt , hosted by the National Blood Transfusion Centre in Cairo , which is headed by Dr Faten Moftah who is also the Director of its WHO Regional Collaborating Centre for training in transfusion medicine. It is proposed to take place at the Red Sea resort of Ain El Sokhna on the 6-7 th May 2005.

The 2nd course is proposed to take place in the autumn in Jeddah or in the UAE.


Proposed agenda to be covered in the first course:  

•  Local legislative frameworks-the current situation

•  International regulatory systems

•  Systems for accreditation and licensing, including haemovigilance

•  Plasma as raw material and regulatory mechanisms for safe plasma derivatives

•  Regulatory mechanisms and GMP requirements for stem cell transplantation and tissue banking

•  WHO and international net-working to support and establish national policies for safe transfusion services