About Our Case Studies
All case studies are real cases. The antibody identification panels depicted include the actual RBC phenotypes and reaction strengths as they were read by the technologists doing the work. With rare exceptions, no changes were made to make them easier or more “correct” for the student. The only editing made to some cases was omission of duplicate work and repeat testing. All cases include patient history, but the Technical Case Studies largely focus on the laboratory investigation while the Clinical Case Studies focus to a greater degree on the clinical context of the investigation. The Featured Cases may be of either type.
We suggest that the student try to answer all questions before looking at the author’s answers. Many of the answers are based on the specific policies and procedures posted in the Procedures section of this website. Laboratories may follow different policies and procedures than these, and such different policies might lead to different answers. Important policies and procedures for answering the case study questions include ”Investigation of a Positive Antibody Detection Test“, “Antigen Treatment Effects“, “Blood Component Compatibility Requirements“, and “Investigation of a Positive DAT“. Special procedures cited in the case studies are posted under the “Procedures” tab.
If you are a teacher of immunohematology we invite you to use one or more case studies in your own teaching. The case list will help you in selecting those that will be useful to the learners you’re working with. Please note that the case studies are copyrighted and must not be attributed to other authors; please leave the author’s name and copyright symbol on the case if you print it. We are interested in disseminating this knowledge and would like to know whether and how the material is being used. Also, we welcome your feedback, positive or negative. So please tell us if the material is helpful, if you find any errors we need to fix, or if there is something else you want to see here.
