Wet Workshop Materials
The materials in this section are here to help interested parties conduct their own hands-on or “wet” workshops. The intent is not to have others conduct exactly the same workshops the III has done (although we wouldn’t complain). But when starting a new endeavor there is nothing as bad as a blank page; it is always useful to have something to get you started!
Our weeklong workshop design was inspired, at least in part, by the workshops that Marilynn Moulds used to conduct at Gamma Biologicals. Unlike that famous quadrennial workshop however, our standard 5 day workshop was designed for learners starting with little knowledge of antibody identification, for whom the standard pretransfusion testing protocol is a “type-and-crossmatch”. Our goal has been to start with the most basic problem of a patient with a single alloantibody that could be identified with a single antibody identification RBC panel and then work up to the most common of difficult cases, namely a warm autoantibody in a previously-transfused patient on whom underlying alloantibodies should be ruled out. Along the way we contrast the “type-and-screen” form of pretransfusion testing with the “type-and-crossmatch” practiced in much of the world.
The core of our workshop planning tools is the workshop materials spreadsheet, which allows calculation of the exact amount of specimen and reagents needed to conduct a workshop.
THE ONE WEEK III WET WORKSHOP
The curriculum objectives of the standard week-long wet workshop developed by the III are covered in a
set of 5 cases of increasing complexity, plus an introductory skills exercise, a daily QC procedure
(performed once by the group) and a serologic centrifuge calibration exercise if time permits. The
exercises are interspersed with short lectures covering the theoretical basis of the testing performed.
Finally, again if scheduling permits, on the Saturday after the workshop multiple paper cases are
presented with the objectives of 1) reinforcing and extending the participants’ new cognitive skills in
analyzing IH cases, and 2) engagement with the local immunohematology community. If less than a
week is available for the workshop some subset of the exercises can be performed. Of not, all or part of
this curriculum could be adapted for a “Blood Bank Basic Lab” for starting Medical Laboratory Science
students anywhere.
The documents under the tabs to the right include the procedure (“SOP”) for the workshop as well as
supporting materials used to create and deliver it. The workshop SOP is presented under the upper tab
in PDF format for review, as well as in WORD under the lower so that it can be edited according to the
specific needs of the group using it. The latter tab also accesses the EXCEL spreadsheet used in planning
needed materials for the workshop, examples of WORD documents to be used in creating student
workbooks, a sample evaluation in WORD, PowerPoint presentations that can be used or edited for use
during the workshop, and short videos to illustrate grading of reactions. Case studies to be used in a
“Saturday Seminar” can be selected from elsewhere on the website.
Download the PDF here, or download all materials on the right.