Rapid establishment of a COVID-19 convalescent plasma program in a regional health care delivery network.
Transfusion
; 60(10): 2203-2209, 2020 10.
Article
in English
| MEDLINE | ID: covidwho-729352
ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND:
COVID-19 convalescent plasma (CCP) represents an appealing approach to the treatment of patients with infections due to SARS-CoV-2. We endeavored to quickly establish a sustainable CCP transfusion program for a regional network of health care facilities. STUDY DESIGN ANDMETHODS:
A regional collaborative group was activated to address the issues necessary to implementing a CCP transfusion program and making the program sustainable. A wide range of health care providers including physicians (critical care, infectious disease, transfusion medicine), nurses, pharmacists, laboratorians, and information technology (IT) specialists were required to make the program a success.RESULTS:
The CCP implementation team initially consisted of four members but quickly grew to a group of nearly 20 participants based on different issues related to program implementation. Overall, six major implementation "themes" were addressed (a) registration of individual hospitals and principal investigators with a national investigational new drug research protocol; (b) collaboration with a regional blood donor center; (c) targeted recruitment of convalesced donors; (d) IT issues related to all aspects of CCP ordering, distribution, and transfusion; (e) prioritization of patients to receive CCP; and (f) evaluation of CCP products including antibody characteristics and patient response to therapy.CONCLUSION:
Within 4 weeks of initiation, CCP was successfully transfused at multiple hospitals in our regional health care delivery system. A program infrastructure was established that will make this program sustainable into the future. This approach has broader implications for the success of multi-institutional programs requiring rapid implementation.
Full text:
Available
Collection:
International databases
Database:
MEDLINE
Main subject:
SARS-CoV-2
/
COVID-19
Type of study:
Experimental Studies
/
Prognostic study
Limits:
Adult
/
Aged
/
Female
/
Humans
/
Male
/
Middle aged
/
Young adult
Language:
English
Journal:
Transfusion
Year:
2020
Document Type:
Article
Affiliation country:
Trf.16026
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