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The 6th Annual NEON Transfusion Medicine Symposium presented by Canadian Blood Services and the Ontario Regional Blood Coordinating Network will be held at the Kingston General Hospital in the Richardson Lecture Hall on Wednesday April 13th.

Two half day sessions will be held from 09:00 to 12:00 and 13:00 to 16:00. The afternoon session is a repeat of the morning session. There is no cost to attend the symposium and lunch will be provided to those who attend on site.

The topics for this year's event are:
- Bloodless Medicine and a Primer on Blood Transfusions for Physicians
- Transfusion Medicine Case Studies - Point of Care Testing Errors
- Transmissible Disease Risks and Blood Safety Strategies
- Nursing Toolbox for Transfusion Medicine

If you are planning to attend on site, please let Denyse Tremblay know asap so the information can be conveyed to the moderator at the Kingston General Hospital.

If you are unable to attend on site, you have the option of doing a live webcast of the talks by clicking on the link:http://webcast.otn.ca/liveevents.html

You may also view the archived webcast the week following the symposium from the ORBCoN website at www.transfusionontario.org.

In order to receive an attendance certificate after attending via live or archived webcast, please provide Denyse Tremblay at denyse.tremblay@blood.ca with your email address so the link to the on line survey can be forwarded.

Please find attached a copy of the brochure poster.

Do not hesitate to contact Denyse Tremblay at denyse.tremblay@blood.ca if you have any issues or questions.

The Orpheus Perfusion Simulator was used with the last intake of students (graduating 2011) at The Michener Institute, Toronto, Ontario.
This article looks at the Perfusion Simulation Center at the Medical University of South Carolina and looks at the response from their students.
September 2011 article.

Canadian Blood Services (CBS) is extending the storage of thawed Frozen Plasma (FP) and Fresh Frozen Plasma (FFP) components from 24 hours to 120 hours (5 days) to align with the current CAN/CSA-Z902-10 standard, other industry standards, scientific publications and practices already implemented by transfusion services in some customer facilities. Fresh Frozen Plasma Apheresis (FFPA), Cryosupernatant and
Cryoprecipitate are not impacted by this change.

To reflect this change, CBS is releasing the new June 2011 versions of the plasma component Circulars of Information to address the change in storage of thawed plasma from 24 hours to 120 hours (5 days).

The new Circulars are:
• Plasma Components (FFPA, FP CPD, Cryosupernatant CPD, Cryoprecipitate CPD)

• Plasma Components (FFP CP2D, FP CP2D, Cryosupernatant CP2D, Cryoprecipitate CP2D)

Revised sections include Storage and handling, Warnings and precautions and References. Please refer to the customer letter for revision details.

Link to circulars and customer letter:
http://www.transfusionmedicine.ca/news/publications/release-plasma-compo...

Please note that generic Willingness to Serve and Nomination forms for positions on the OSCP Board of Directors have been added under the Documentation tab in the menu listed above .

It is so important to maintain a certain level of activity within our professional organizations. There has been a tendency over the last number of years to attend meetings on specific topics usually hosted by special interest groups. The net result is that the attendance and the content of our regional, national and international PERFUSION meetings has suffered and the networking required to build a strong profession has diminished. I would like to thank Maggie and others who have commented on the OSCP site regularly. Although not quite as good, we can have virtual meetings on line to discuss issues that will affect us all.

I recently completed a health law certificate and during this program I heard that the provincial government is trying to sort out what to do with all the small marginal groups that are not yet covered by the regulated health professions act. We need to be a strong group with 100% Ontario membership if we are to represent Perfusionists effectively when these disussions come up. In addition we need to support our national society and our educational institutions.

The executives of our societies need to know that you care. They have plenty of busy work to do but can always be influenced to spearhead a popular issue if the mebership so desires.

Please send in your dues to Lynn Lean for OSCP and to the National office for the CSCP. Please let your executive teams know what is on your mind. We cannot afford to be coamplacent. In addition please contact Fiona Cherryman to volunteer your time to teach at the Michener.

Professional status comes with certain obligations. I sense that we could all use a renewed effort to raise awareness about who Perfusionists are and what it is we do.

David

To Ontario Perfusionists
Your annual dues for active or student membership are due before July 31, 2011. You may submit payment using a credit card via Paypal (see below) or by cheque. Cheques can be mailed to OSCP Treasurer,
1760 Spartan Court
Pickering, Ontario,
L1V 7G6.

Kind Regards
Lynn Lean
OSCP Treasurer

For the first time in the world, transplant surgeons at Toronto General Hospital, University Health Network used a new technique to repair an injured donor lung that was unsuitable for transplant, and then successfully transplanted it into a patient (Dec 5, 2008). The use of this technique, using The Toronto System, could significantly expand the lung donor organ pool and improve outcomes after transplantation.

"This achievement was the result of years of research and pre-clinical planning by a large team of researchers, surgeons, physicians, nurses and other specialists (i.e. Perfusionists!). It means that many more donor lungs which we could not have used before can now potentially be used safely, and it sets the stage for more sophisticated molecular and cellular repair techniques to be applied in the Toronto XVIVO Perfusion System so that transplant outcomes can be further improved. The potential exists to immunologically pre-prepare the organ before it even sees the recipient's immune system." ScienceDaily, December 22, 2008

Congratulations to Mindy Madonik and the entire cardiac perfusion and surgical team at Toronto General Hospital for a progressive and outstanding quality of research and patient care. For all of those that are interested the article from the NEJM (April 14 2011) is attached intitled "Normothermic ex vivo lung perfusion in clinical lung transplantation."

The Program Advisory Council for Michener's Cardiovascular Perfusion Program has specified that Clinical Coordinator status appointments will be mandatory for all Clinical Coordinators for the 2011/12 intake for Michener's CVP program. It is also strongly recommended that all perfusionists who supervise and evaluate Michener students should have a Clinical Educator status appointment. If you are certified and will/want to be directly involved with student education, supervision and evaluation you should have the appropriate status appointment from Michener. Note that these are three-year status appointments.

What to do:
1) Complete the appropriate "Clinical Coordinator or Clinical Educator Application Form" (attached)
2) Clinical Coordinator application forms must be signed by the department's manager/supervisor. Clinical Educator application forms must be signed by the department's Clinical Coordinator
3) Submit applications to the Office for Clinical Education at Michener (clinicaleducation@michener.ca)

Requirements for Clinical Educators
Recognize and agree to fulfill the responsibilities required by the status-only appointment as Clinical Educator:
• Excellence in clinical instruction
• Evaluation by students
• Adherence to clinical course outlines
• Commitment to professional development in interprofessional education
• Direct contribution to the clinical student’s attainment of clinical competencies, as identified by the Clinical Coordinator

THC has an Advanced Cardiac Program with tremendous growth since the Nov 2000 opening. Currently, they perform 1100 cardiac operations with approximately 60% OPCABs and anticipate further expansion with the opening of another Cardiac Operating Room.

Your knowledge and expertise as a skilled, experienced Perfusionist would enable you to help contribute to the development and implementation of new techniques and technologies that will improve patient outcomes.

Please see the attached Job Advertisement.

Ms. Fiona Cherryman will be assuming leadership as the chair of the Cardiovascular Perfusion Program at The Michener Institute, Toronto, Ontario. Fiona has accepted the position of Chair of Critical Care, a portfolio that comprises the Respiratory Therapy, Anesthesia Assistant and Cardiovascular Perfusion programs. Fiona has been the Chair of Radiation Therapy for the past six years and is excited about the opportunity to work with the CVP community and lead a new group of well respected programs.

Fiona can be reached at fcherryman@michener.ca or telephone 416-596-3184. Mike Aubin continues as CVP Faculty and Program Administrative support continues to be offered through Manuela MUngureanu@michener.ca.

Ms. Fiona Cherryman M.R.T.(T.), MEd, OMDP:

Attached are a few journal articles she has been an author on, for your interest.