I heard it through the grapevine-2 (Musings on the value of Twitter)

In 2019 I wrote a blog promoting Twitter for TM professionals and for July's blog, I'll do a second one.
The blog's title derives from 1966 ditty recorded by Marvin Gaye and later Creedence Clearwater Revival.  

INTRODUCTION
To me far too few transfusion professionals are on Twitter, including medical laboratory technologists, nurses, and physicians. Many reasons, including Facebook preceded Twitter and Twitter tends to have a poor reputation in general. Today Facebook has an even worse reputation but if you're on it, you may value how it keeps you in touch with pals and family. 

In my experience TM folks on Twitter are a different breed. They want to share resources and expertise and, if you want to engage in continuing professionals education, Twitter is a wonderful free resource. Questions can be asked and answered by experts. Also Twitter is international. Based on my Twitter account (Further Reading), experts from Australia, Canada, UK, USA, and professionals from many nations in Africa and Asia participate. Glad to report that some Canadian medical laboratory technologists are on Twitter.

UNDERSTANDING TWITTER (from earlier blog)
First, Signing up on Twitter is easy 
Tidbits (Twitter 101):

• Language: Twitter is the software platform. You are a tweep. When you post a message, it's called a tweet. 
• If not on Twitter when accessing a tweet and asked to join, just click on another part of the screen and you can see direct tweets. 
• Be aware you don't need to tweet. Just as on mailing lists, you can lurk.  
• By being on Twitter you can see the replies given by tweeps to other tweeps. If not, you can see only their direct tweets (not replies). 
• Twitter gives you quicker access to important professional events and issues, allows you to share resources with colleagues.  
• As a citizen Twitter is the place to be because you get news about anything well before it appears on mainstream media, e.g., disasters, latest weather, political events. All media and reporters are on Twitter.
• Twitter hashtags are key (Further Reading) For example, they can be used to identify who to follow. And you can also see who others follow for more suggestions.

Learning Point: If you are a transfusion professional in any capacity, please consider joining Twitter. You won't be disappointed. Look at my account to see who I follow, many transfusion experts from all over the world, well known experts.

As always, comments are most welcome.

FOR FUN
Chose this ditty because Twitter is a good grapevine to keep up with the latest transfusion medicine news.

• I Heard it Through The Grapevine (CCR)
• I Heard it through the Grapevine (Marvin Gaye, live at Montreux) 

FURTHER READING

• Gardner JM, McKee PH. Social media use for pathologists of all ages. Arch Pathol Lab Med. 2019 Mar;143(3):282-6.
• Twitter hashtags (one pertinent to this blog is #transfusion)
• My current transfusion-related Twitter account: @oldbloodbanker 

I heard it through the grapevine (Musings on value of Twitter)

The idea for March's blog was stimulated by 'Social media use for pathologists of all ages' (Further Reading). The article begins as follows:

Pathologists have shown an increasing acceptance of professional social media use in recent years. There are currently more than 4700 pathologists and pathology-related accounts on Twitter per an online list maintained by one of the authors.

Based on personal experience, my guess is that few medical laboratory technologists are on Twitter, especially those working in transfusion. Perhaps because it came after Facebook (founded 2004), Twitter (founded 2006) is a mystery to many. Find that sad but understand why. Blogged on Twitter before (Further Reading). 

Back in 1994 I founded a mailing list (MEDLAB-L),early social media. Delighted that many med lab technologists and physicians from all over the globe subscribed.  
Blog's title derives from 1966 ditty recorded by Marvin Gaye and later Creedence Clearwater Revival. 

UNDERSTANDING TWITTER
Signing up on Twitter is easy. Tidbits:

• Language: Twitter is the software platform. You are a tweep. When you post a message, it's a tweet. 

• If not on Twitter when accessing a tweet and asked to join, just click on another part of the screen and you can see direct tweets. 

• Be aware you don't need to tweet. Just as on earlier mailing lists, you can lurk.  

• By being on Twitter you can see the replies given by tweeps to other tweeps. If not, you can see only their direct tweets (not replies). 

• Twitter gives you quicker access to important professional events and issues, allows you to share resources with colleagues.  

• As a citizen Twitter is the place to be because you get news about anything well before it appears on mainstream media, e.g., disasters, latest weather, political events. All media and reporters are on Twitter.

• Twitter hashtags are key (Further Reading) For example, they can be used to identify who to follow. And you can also see who others follow for more suggestions.

As always, comments are most welcome.

FOR FUN
Chose this ditty because Twitter is a good grapevine,

• I Heard it Through The Grapevine (CCR)

• I Heard it through the Grapevine (Marvin Gaye, live at Montreux) 

FURTHER READING
Gardner JM, McKee PH. Social media use for pathologists of all ages. Arch Pathol Lab Med. 2019 Mar;143(3):282-6.

Twitter hashtags | Transfusion hashtag

My Twitter accounts

• Transfusion: oldbloodbanker
• Politics: bogeywheels 
• Footie (soccer): eurofutball

The sound of silence (Musings on why it's key to criticize TM professionals / organizations)

Updated: 25 May 2017 

(Major revision from the blog initially posted.)

May's blog was stimulated by recent experiences I've had on a transfusion Twitter account. It deals with concerns about professionals speaking their minds versus being silent. As such it's a personal blog but I hope transfusion professionals everywhere will be able to discern the issues involved and how they may relate to their professional lives.

The blog's content is the type of thing folks don't usually discuss except perhaps with their trusted best friends (or in social media speak, their BFF).

Executive version: The blog is about decisions made on Twitter and on transfusion-related blogs like this one, which occasionally make me persona non grata with fellow tweeps and colleagues. The blog's focus is about the need for transfusion professionals to speak out and discuss the things that bug them, instead of remaining silent.

The blog's title comes from a Simon and Garfunkel song, circa 1965.

BACKGROUND
So readers can appreciate the context of where I'm coming from and what has shaped my views, some background.

In brief, I'm a lifelong medical laboratory technologist who began my career as a 'kid' at Canada's then national blood supplier (Canadian Red Cross) in Winnipeg in the pre-AIDS era that blood bankers often call the 'golden age of serology'. CRC is where I grew up professionally and the Canadian Red Cross Blood Transfusion Service (CRC-BTS) staff became my beloved blood banking family. The learning opportunities were abundant because Winnipeg's CRC-BTS was, and remains, the only combined blood supplier-transfusion service in Canada. Many of the staff became lifelong pals.

Later I lucked out by getting a teaching position as a lecturer, then professor, in the MLS program at the University of Alberta in Edmonton and a clinical instructor for the UAH blood bank, positions held for 22 years. I called these positions the best transfusion science teaching job in Canada, maybe the world, before choosing to give up a tenured university position to embark on new adventures.

With this background I've seen many changes, some I judge as good, some as bad, and been a keen observer of our profession for decades. Transfusion medicine remains a lifelong love affair.

It's obvious, but please be aware that what follows is my perspective and, as such, shows my biases.

CRITICIZING A RESPECTED ORGANIZATION
As noted earlier, my TM career began with Canada's blood supplier CRC-BTS, now CBS. After being a med lab tech, lab supervisor, and clinical instructor at CRC-BTS, decades later I was privileged to obtain many consultant jobs with CBS - I loved them all - and briefly served as a lab manager of a CBS patient services lab. It's an organization Canadians can be proud of but, like any large organization, is not perfect.

Over the years I've criticized CBS on Twitter and in blogs for what I perceive as deception, hypocrisy, use of hackneyed business jargon, and more.

Some tweets I've made often occur on the spur of the moment and constitute errors in judgement. Some are because, as a bit of a contrarian, I see things differently than many or choose to reveal my true feelings on issues that others do not for whatever reason.

Reminds me of advice I'd give to Med Lab Science students:

Explaining how feedback is an indispensable tool to help both instructor and learner improve, and modelling appropriate responses such as, "Thanks for telling me that." When MLS students enter their clinical internship year, I'd explain that constructive criticism is their best friend. They can improve only if supervisory staff tell them when they are doing something wrong or doing something that needs to be improved.

That said, does CBS even want feedback from the likes of me, especially when it's often critical of their practices or constitutes a send-up? Perhaps not.

Sad but tweets about CBS could potentially cause folks I respect to unfollow me on Twitter. I know of at least one in the UK who has done so.

The blogs are a different matter. They're not spontaneous but a way to get something that bugs me off my chest. In a way they're therapeutic. I blog about an issue and feel better because I've said my piece and haven't remained silent. Often I wonder how the heck I've had the chutzpah to criticize a respected organization and its leaders.

So the question arises, is it preferable to keep silent or continue to challenge CBS to be even better? Or are blogs and tweets similar to pissing in the wind?

Fact: Most transfusion professionals choose to keep silent and not criticize organizations such as national blood suppliers for several reasons. First and foremost, the organization may be their employer. Or perhaps they interact with the blood supplier as a hospital client and want to maintain a cordial relationship. 

But the result is that the blood supplier often never knows where they need to improve because no one dares to tell them. Certainly rank-and-file employees usually don't. Reality is many employees outside an inner circle at head office, or not in management positions in blood centres, have long since given up offering feedback about policies because it's invariably ignored. At least it seems that way to 'trench workers'.

Directives and self-congratulatory missives emanate from CBS head office that staff in the far flung regions sometimes consider a joke, often so hypocritical that the missive is the exact opposite of reality. I could write a lot more on this from my experiences as a CBS lab manager but won't now.

LEARNING POINTS
Why should we offer honest feedback to TM colleagues and organizations? Because it's the only way they can improve. If we only promote what a great job they do, they will NEVER improve. And I want the organization I grew up in and love to improve.

As to errors in judgement, those mistakes are what I must learn from. If I've inadvertently offended colleagues, I apologize unreservedly. Being passionate about a subject can sometimes push me to say dumb things.

Does any of this resonate with your experiences? Are you deep into the 'sound of silence' as many, perhaps most, transfusion professionals are? Food for thought that I hope is palatable and doesn't cause you to choke.

FOR FUN
This Simon and Garfunkel song fits this blog. TM professionals and organizations who might improve - if only colleagues would speak inconvenient truths - never can improve if the Sound of Silence reigns in the TM community.

• The Sound of Silence (Simon and Garfunkel, Madison Square Garden, NTC, 2009 )  

Take chance on me (Musings on transfusion professionals collaborating)

Stay tuned: Revisions will occur

February's blog was stimulated by the planned transition of an informal mailing list of Canada's Transfusion Safety Officers (TSOs) to the CSTM website. I've been the list manager and moderator since the list ('transfusion')  was created in 2000. The blog is shorter than usual, which is likely a good thing.

As part of the move, we did a survey of 'transfusion' subscribers, many of whom do not have the job title of TSO, but perform many of the same functions. Historically, mainly for financial reasons, most subscribers are Canadian but we've had a few foreign subscribers, including ones from Ireland, Switzerland, UK, and USA.

What is this blog about and why might you want to read it? Many other transfusion-related communication mechanisms (workshops,conferences) exist but today it's often electronic communication, such as websites with discussion forums. In transfusion medicine, PathLabTalk comes to mind, whose BloodBankTalk participants are mainly USA and UK medical laboratory technologists / medical lab scientists. 

Similarly, professional associations like AABB and BBTS offer discussion forums and my experience is that most posts are by technologists.

In contrast, Canada's TSO list includes medical laboratory technologists and transfusion nurses, including blood conservation nurses, and even a few physicians.

That's a huge advantage because transfusion service laboratories and nurses who administer blood transfusion really do need to learn more about each other and appreciate the role each plays.

The blog's title derives from a 1978 ditty by Sweden's ABBA.

HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVE
For decades I've been privy to the views that med lab techs/scientists have on nurses, based on anecdotal experience in hospital transfusion services.

Common themes (misconceptions?) are that RNs do NOT

• Understand quality control procedures and lack competence to do Point of Care Testing (POCT)
• Truly dig the importance of patient identity and understand what can go wrong. Hence they're not that concerned if patient identities on specimen labels do not EXACTLY match those on blood transfusion requisitions, because, hey, they took that sample and know it's the patient.  Hence they think the lab is being anal-retentive on what they see as minor. 

It's possible that nurses have views of their colleagues in transfusion laboratories that are not always complimentary and may be based on sterotypes. I'd love to hear some. 

PARTICIPATION
Transfusion nurses have come relatively late to transfusion organizations. But physicians have belonged for ages, indeed from the get-go. They tend to dominate proceedings as evidenced by talks at annual meetings.

Yet few physicians participate in transfusion lists and forums, or on Twitter. Why not? My guess is that some think of social media such as forums, lists, and Twitter as beneath them. Perhaps some can't be bothered to interact with the hoi polloi, meaning lab techs and nurses or is that too harsh? 

Or, unlike the laboratory and nursing trench workers of the transfusion community, most physicians are too busy (can't bother?) to talk to anyone but other physicians, and only at medical rounds, conferences, etc.? Please advise. 

Three Transfusion Pros Walked Into A Bar
To illustrate my point about stereotypes among transfusion professionals, I created a joke. Yes, it's satire with a smidgen of truth.

A female doctor, medical lab technologist, and a nurse walked into the bar. Oh, great said the bartender, we have a contest tonight and you are just the ones to play it. Out came 2 glasses and the bartender said, 'Guess which one is British and which is Canadian.'

The doctor considered herself a beer aficionado and passed on asking the age and history of the brews. Feeling more knowledgeable than her colleagues, and somewhat infallible, as she often did at work, she immediately stated, based on her gut feeling: Pale lager is Canadian, dark is British.

Canada

Britain

The nurse took and recorded the vital signs, including colour and temperature. She recalled Canadian beer was more likely to be pale yellow and served cooler and that Britain had dark ales. Her guess was the same as the doctor's: Pale lager is Canadian, dark is British.

The lab tech asked if a historical record existed of the samples in the glasses and which bottles they came from, and then demanded it. When told that would be cheating, the technologist replied, 'Sorry, we in the lab don't guess about identity.'

Correct identity thanks to the lab technologist (You knew this was coming):

Canada

Britain

BOTTOM LINE
If only med lab techs/scientists, nurses, and physicians could get to know each other better, transfusion medicine would be a better world. I've been lucky in Alberta, Canada, thanks to the Med Lab Sci program at University of Alberta, to have taught several students who went on to become hematopathologists. Their lab background is a huge plus. 

And I know from the TSO 'transfusion' list that technologists and nurses have benefited from learning the issues and challenges each has.

For interest: In 1994 when the Internet became available at my workplace, I created a mailing list 'MEDLAB-L' for medical laboratory professionals of all disciplines. I could have gone with a transfusion list but am so glad to have opted to be inclusive. Over the years lab professionals (med lab technologists / scientists, PhD level scientists, and physicians) in all clinical labs have benefited from learning about each others' issues.

FOR FUN
The song I chose is a 1978 ditty by Sweden's iconic ABBA. It's meant to say to nurses and med lab techs and physicians to talk to each other on social media, break down stereotypes, trust each other, because we're all in this together.

• Take a chance on me (ABBA)

As always, comments are most welcome.

The Sound of silence (Musings on transfusion professionals use of Twitter)

Updated: 25 Sept. 2016 

September's blog takes its theme from Twitter activity on my @transfusionnews Twitter account. The blog is shorter than usual (a good thing), but something I feel passionate about. 

The title is from a 1964 classic by Simon and Garfunkel.

For readers who choose not to read the full blog, here's the executive version. The blog's aims are to

• Showcase prolific transfusion-focused tweeps from the English-speaking world - those who clearly believe in the power of social media like Twitter to engage and educate about transfusion.

• Interest you in joining Twitter (even as a 'lurker' who reads but never posts, as so many were and are on mailing lists) or, if that's a bridge too far, at least bookmark one of the Twitter accounts (maybe mine?), and periodically read the latest. You can do so without being on Twitter. 

Bottom line: Being a transfusion professional is a career not a 9-5 job. Learning what's happening around the globe enriches and broadens our experience. And we can use Twitter tidbits to interest our students and inform our practice. That's a good thing. Note that I resisted saying we could leverage Twitter. 

Recently, while helping a friend with a project she did for the BC PBCO, international colleagues I met only on Twitter took time from their incredibly busy schedules to go away 'above and beyond' to assist. Being on Twitter is like having an amazingly diverse family whose members generously share knowledge and expertise.

TRANSFUSION TWEEPS OF NOTE
From my experience, here are the transfusion professionals, individuals who regularly distribute transfusion news via Twitter. I've not included blood suppliers like Canadian Blood Services (@itsinyoutogive) or professional associations like @aabb, @BritishBloodTS, and  @CanSocTransMed.

To my knowledge, these are transfusion medicine's prolific tweeps (number of tweets in brackets). The list is not all inclusive. I follow many valuable transfusion tweeps with fewer tweets and others with 1000s of posts but many unrelated to transfusion. 

AUSTRALIA (2)

Haemovigilance Guy @Haemovigilante (1300+) 

Dr Sandy Minck @DrSandyMinck (1,000+)

IRELAND (1)
Gerard Crotty @gmcrotty (18,000+)

GREAT BRITAIN  (8)

Sylvia Benjamin @Gogmum (6,500+) 

Tony Davies @Dobbysdad (1,800+) 

HarveysGang @Laird_Admiral (6,000+) 

Dr. Suzy Morton: @TransfusionWM (1,900+)

Kate Pendry @KatePendry  (4,000+)

TeamHaem @TeamHaem (6500+) 

Dan Smith @Dan1763 (3,900+)

CANADA (4)

Jenny Ryan @JRyanCS (5,300+) 

Elianna Saidenberg @ESaidenberg (2,600+) 

Cyber Bloodbanker @transfusion news (2,000+) - Me 

Ron Vezina @Vez_says (1300+)

SUMMARY
Did you notice that the Brits are the transfusion rock stars on Twitter? Why is that, I wonder? If I've missed any 'tweetaholics', please let me know. 

To discover who to follow on Twitter, use hashtags such as 

• #transfusion 
• #bloodeducation
• #blood

The last may produce unexpected results.
And when you find someone you like, see who they follow and who follows them.

FOR FUN
The blog's theme reminded me of a 1964 ditty by Simon and Garfunkel. Seems the transfusion twittersphere sadly suffers from the Sound of Silence, especially in Canada and the USA. Let's be disruptive and break the silence more, folks.

• Sound of Silence (Simon and Garfunkel) 

As always, comments are most welcome.

Look what they've done to my song, Ma (Musings on misuse of Twitter)

Updated: 16 Nov. 2015

November's blog was motivated by monitoring the AABB's twitter account during and after the 2015 Annual Meeting in October. 

The blog's title derives from a 1970 ditty by Melanie Safka, known professionally as Melanie. 

As an AABB member since 1975 (40 years), and being an early adopter of social media (mailing lists as of 1994 and Twitter since 2011), I'm naturally interested in how professional associations use social media. [FYI: Tried Facebook and hated it.] 

Be aware that you can follow Twitter accounts without being on Twitter. It's a good way to keep current on the latest transfusion news. Just bookmark (favorite) an account and visit daily, weekly, whatever suits your needs.

Why read the blog? Maybe to see what Twitter's all about? Or  how you as an individual or member of a transfusion-related professional association may want to use it to benefit the profession? To read the blog takes 5-10 minutes out of a 1440 minute 24 hours (maximum of ~0.7%).

AABB BACKGROUND
For interest, the AABB is one of the largest transfusion medicine related professional associations in the world, if not the largest, at least in the West. A few statistics from AABB's 2014 Annual Report:

AABB has more than 5000 members:

• 5,420 Health Care Professionals
• 1,294 Physicians
• 149 Residents
• 29 e-Members
• 298 Emeritus Members

I'd guess non-physician AABB individual members are mostly medical laboratory technologists/scientists.

AABB's Transfusion had almost 500,000 articles downloaded. That's impressive and I'm curious who's doing all the downloads.

AABB revenue ($US) from 

• Dues: $3,084,744
• Annual meeting: $3,956,264
• Print sales: $2,577,601
• Education: $5,065,813

Let's agree that AABB is a huge professional association. If you read the annual report, you will see that expenses are also large.

AABB MEETING/POST-MEETING TWEETS
With that as background, let's examine recent @AABB activity. Tweets during the annual meeting, Oct. 24-27, 2015, are summarized as follows. Non -substantive tweets are those that are 'me too' or thanks.

Day (Date): Number of tweets (n,% non-substantive)
Day 1 (Oct. 24): 47 (7, 15%)
Day 2 (Oct. 25): 48 (9, 19%)
Day 3 (Oct. 26): 29 (3, 10%)
Day 4 (Oct. 27): 30 (7, 23%)
Total = 154

Average tweets each day = 38.5. Non-substantive tweets over 4 days: ~17%

Post-meeting (28 Oct. - 14 Nov)
17 days of tweets: 32 tweets with 11 thanks 

Average tweets each day = 1.8. Non-substantive tweets over 17 days: ~34% 

See @AABB 2015 Annual Meeting tweets  (Non-substantive tweets in pale green)

NOTE: You can access tweets that include https:// as follows:

• Highlight the URL, e.g., https://t.co/WAox1aGgm8 in the first tweet 
• Don't include the "
• Right click highlighted text
• Select 'Go to https://t.co/WAox1aGgm8'

So what do AABB's tweets reveal about how health-related professional associations use Twitter?

MUSINGS
Twitter's Background
First, be aware that Twitter  - founded in 2006 - is a relative Johnny-come-lately to social media. Twitter didn't take off until years later and Twitter's 500 million users pale compared to Facebook's claimed 1 billion+ users. 

Twitter is popular, even indispensable in crises, because you discover what's happening before it's on live news channels. Indeed, news media now identify what's happening via Twitter. During the latest Paris terrorist attacks, I saw breaking news on Twitter before it appeared on CBC, BBC, CNN. 

Yet, many health professionals do not use Twitter at all. They learned Facebook and are unwilling to endure Twitter's learning curve. Plus many see Twitter's 140 character limit as meaning it's mickey mouse, only about tweeting what you had for breakfast, as if anyone cares.

Indeed, many professional associations do not know how to use Twitter to maximum advantage, likely because they see it of minimal value, albeit something they need to do if they want to be considered 'with it'. 

AABB vs Other Associations
As a large organization, AABB has a relatively active Twitter account compared to much smaller transfusion medicine associations, those with fewer resources, such as BBTS  and CSTM, both of which tend to post more substantive tweets. To my knowledge, ANZSBT isn't on Twitter.

Designated Person Tweeting
I know from one of my Twitter accounts, @transfusionnews, that tweeting substantive news to interest others requires time, effort, and discernment. It definitely helps to have the time and motivation to share significant 'goodies' but especially to have a transfusion background.

Would love to know who tweets for AABB. A paid staff member? Transfusion background required? What guidelines, if any, are provided regarding suitable content and frequency?

Bottom Lines
AABB is to be commended for maintaining an active Twitter account. That many tweets thank folks is also commendable and creates goodwill. 

But...and there's always a 'but' in my blogs...If I were tweeting for AABB, I'd include many more substantive tweets. Many of the @AABB tweets that I did not categorize as 'me too' and 'thanks' were not particularly substantive. 

What do I mean by 'substantive'? Tweets that are significant and meaningful to users and useful in their professional lives. Information and resources they didn't otherwise know about and are grateful for.

Because that's the beauty of Twitter. Despite it's 140 character limit, it's a wonderful medium for disseminating useful information quickly to many users. Yes, it should be fun and foster goodwill but mostly distribute information to those interested. That's one of Twitter's key strengths. 

Another is Twitter's ability to provide feedback and opinions. Yet few professional organizations use it for that. For example, I've never seen a professional organization use a poll or ask followers important questions. 

Yes, AABB's tweets during its annual meeting and thereafter were touch-feely but disappointed. From a huge organization I expect more. 

As Napolean said, 'If you're going to take Vienna, take Vienna'. Similarly, if you're on twitter, use it wisely to good advantage.

FOR FUN
This song written and recorded by Melanie Safka for her 1970 'Candles in the Rain' album fits the blog because it expresses how I feel about professional associations that misuse Twitter. 

Not abuse, just misuse. The blog is meant to be food for thought for how we can all improve our tweets so that busy professionals find them more useful.

Need I mention that I love this song for its clever lyrics?

• Look what they've done to my song, Ma (Melanie Safka)

Or try this fun duet: 

• Look what they've done to my song, Ma (Miley Cyrus and Melanie)

Look what they done to my song, ma.
Look what they done to my song.
Well it's the only thing
That I could do half right
And it's turning out all wrong, ma.
Look what they done to my song.

As always, comments are most welcome.

SUGGESTED READING

• @AABB 2015 Annual Meeting tweets

We are the world (Musings on sharing TM resources)

Updated: 10 Feb. 2014

February's blog is on transfusion medicine resources, including blogs and twitter. [Like all blogs, please check again as revisions invariably occur.]

The blog's title derives from a 1985 song written by Michael Jackson and Lionel Ritchie for 'USA for Africa.'

The blog's theme was triggered by discovering that CBS had removed the Vein to Vein section of its transfusionmedicine.ca website, a site that Kathy Chambers and I developed for CBS in 2001-2003. CBS assessed that some content had become outdated and some was now well covered by other resources. Both true.

The V2V site went up in 2004, ~10 years ago, a long time in transfusion medicine. It's possible that some elements may be revised based on community needs and re-published on the site, but that's just a maybe.

You can still see snapshots of the V2V site because organizations exist that archive websites. This link is the archived site from Sept. 2012.

[Note: Literature references and other external links are still active but don't work on web archives.] 

But that got me thinking about TM resources and who uses them. As explained in January's blog - 'Mommas don't let your babies grow up to be lab techs' -  in reply to Robina's comment (#2 in Addenda), fewer and fewer medical laboratory technologists read TM journals. The same may be true for physicians and nurses.

About online TM resources, I encourage you to ask and answer these questions for yourselves:

• What resources exist? Who created them and why?
• Who uses them and why? 
• Are they useful in your practice?

Perhaps most importantly, should industrialized nations share resources with those in the developing world? In a way, it's similar to whether we in the West should focus on 'Charity begins at home' and give less or nil in foreign aid to poorer nations. And what's the right balance on that continuum?

What follows is my take and I've selected only a few of many useful online resources. Many more exist and your choices may differ from mine.

Please let me know if I've missed an exceptional resource and specify why.

Criteria I use to assess online TM resources:

• Is content created by credible health professionals, preferably acknowledged experts?
• Are references to scientific literature included?
• Is content current and, if older, still relevant today?
• Even if country specific, is content generalizable to other locales?
• Who's behind the site? [Usually in About Us] 
• Who funds the site? Do they have an agenda? If yes, what is it?
• Does the site follow the entire Swiss HON 'Code of Conduct'?

 A few useful TM resources, in no particular order:

WEBSITES 

CANADA
Canada has many websites that share incredible resources that took much time, expertise, and funding to create. In each case, developers could have hogged the resources, kept them secret on an organization's intranet.

But, like Australia, the UK, and others, they bravely and generously decided to make them public via the Internet so all could see, share, offer feedback on, perhaps even criticize.

For those who know these sites, bear with me. I'll try to feature a few goodies that may be new to you.

1. BC PBCO 

BC's Provincial Blood Coordinating Office was the first PBCO created in Canada (1997). Among other things, that's reflected in them having the vision to snap up the generic domain name, pbco.ca. [Couldn't resist the joke.]

Sorry, PBCO pals!

Seventeen years later, BC PBCO remains a leader in blood utilization management, information management, and quality management, as well as in sharing educational and other resources via its site and TraQ's (see below). For example:

• Central Transfusion Registry (CTR)
• iCHIP: Inherited Coagulopathy and Hemoglobinopathy Information Portal (1st of its kind in NA)
• Utilization management
• RBC Redistribution Manual
• Bits and Bytes (6 educational videos)

2. TraQ
Disclosure: I'm TraQ's content coordinator and webmaster.

TraQ has several unique strengths, including:

• Hosts key BC PBCO resources such as its manuals
• Offers constantly updated transfusion news, including industry news
• Provides links to diverse resources, e.g., 
• Nursing resources 
• Case Studies (Hope to update external links soon)
• Severe Hemolytic Transfusion Reaction Involving a Student
• TM animations and videos

3. ORBCoN

Among its many exceptional resources, ORBCoN hosts

• Bloody Easy series
• Resource Manual for Medical Directors of Transfusion Medicine

AUSTRALIA
Australia has long been a leader in developing and sharing blood safety educational resources. Some examples:

• Blood Matters, including 
• Transfusion Tools
• BloodSafe e-Learning Australia

UK
The UK too has always generously shared its TM resources and they've led in many key areas. For example:

• Serious Hazards of Transfusion, aka SHOT, which began in 1996, is the crème de la crème and THE acknowledged world leader of hemovigilance schemes. 
• Nothing touches it. Compared to SHOT, hemovigilance in Canada and the USA is still in the stone ages. For more, see this review of SHOT and hemovigilance around the globe:
• Bolton-Maggs PHB, Cohen H. Serious Hazards of Transfusion (SHOT) haemovigilance and progress is improving transfusion safety. Br J Haematol 2013.
• Guidelines for the Blood Transfusion Services in the UK
• Also known as the 'Red Book' this UK resource has long been a gem.
• See, for example, Pretransfusion Testing

USA
The best transfusion resources in the USA are the AABB's. I've been a member since 1975 (Yikes!). Please consider that when I criticize the organization. It must be doing something right.

Many of AABB's best resources are restricted to members. But some are available to all, e.g.,

• Regulatory/Government Affairs
• Fact Sheets on Emerging Infectious Diseases

SOCIAL MEDIA
Many of today's 'mature' health professionals diss social media as being sound and fury, signifying nothing, as Shakespeare had Macbeth say about life:

Life's but a walking shadow, a poor player
That struts and frets his hour upon the stage
And then is heard no more: it is a tale
Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury,
Signifying nothing. 

Still, I recommend blogs and Twitter, if they meet criteria as above, as being worthwhile resources for TM professionals.

Social media are democratic, meaning anyone can spout off (I'm a prime example). But health professional bloggers and tweeps shouldn't, and do not, get an audience without earning the respect of peers for the content of the offerings.

Unless they're celebs like Justin Bieber and Katy Perry, who each have over 46 million followers on Twitter. Celebs can be total ______ (fill in the blank with an appropriate word) and still have millions of followers eagerly gobbling up their drivel.

A significant characteristic of social media is that, unlike the websites mentioned above, individual blogs and twitter accounts can be created by anyone for free. The only cost is the time and effort of the people (bloggers and tweeps) who participate and contribute.

BLOGS
1. Musings on transfusion medicine (You are here)
Granted, it's shameless self-promotion to include my own blog. This blog began in 2004 and will have its 10th year anniversary in October. This entry is the 119th individual blog. [As is obvious, I'm long-winded with many rants inside just waiting to be released.]

Many blogs exist (although, not many on TM). Blogs should be taken with a huge grain of salt because they represent one person's biased perspective. Blogs can be thought of as short compositions on a single subject written from the author's personal perspective.

In essence blogs are like newspaper editorials, which represent an individual or group's opinion, e.g., that of the owner, publisher, editor, or editorial board.

Musings on TM represents my opinions alone. A natural tendency is to go against prevailing orthodoxy. To me so much of what people believe, including transfusion professionals, results from speaking to the same people, perhaps a few dozen, day in and day out.

What inevitably results is 'group think'. Spending time in an echo chamber, where you constantly hear your views parrotted back to you, leads to believing your views are conventional wisdom, i.e., Doesn't everyone think that?

In revolt, I'm an iconoclast and this blog provides the medium to oppose what most of us accept as 'truth'.

Still, I hope the blog's ideas are more than a 'nutball sounding off' and represent

• Constructive criticism
• Fresh perspective
• Sound reasoning (Well, mostly...)

If not, the Comments section of the blog (~ Letters to the Editor in newspapers) allows readers to counterbalance my often biased views.

2. A few other transfusion blogs exist but they don't turn my crank using the criteria above. If you know of a good one, please let me know.

TWITTER
Created in 2006, Twitter is a late comer to social media and initially was much ridiculed for its limit of 140 characters and some users tweeting trivialities, e.g., what they ate for breakfast, etc.

But gradually people realized the power of Twitter and saw how it could changed media, politics, business, and more.

I love Twitter for its ability to share news and resources. If you're curious about the world and an information junkie, beware! It's addictive.

1. Cyber Bloodbanker @transfusionnews

Again, forgive the self-promotion. I've 7 Twitter accounts, 4 of them serious (well, relatively so), especially the one above, and 3 spoof accounts strictly for fun. Two are transfusion-related with few followers (only tweet when CBS actions warrant a humorous response):

• Graham Sure @Grahamknowsbest
• Blood Fluids Dot Ca @werefullofit

For transfusion news judged useful or interesting to others, I'll immediately put a link to it on @transfusionnews.

For those new to Twitter, you can register and never tweet, just follow others. Or, if that's too much, a simple approach is to bookmark the account's page and visit it when the mood strikes.

2. Other Twitter accounts
Many of the major TM players tweet and are worth following. Some examples:

• AABB @AABB
• BBTS ‏@BritishBloodTS
• CBS @itsinyoutogive
• CSTM @CanSocTransMed
• Graham Sher (CBS CEO and AABB President) @GrahamSher

LEARNING POINTS

1. Did you notice that most recommended websites were from countries with publicly funded health care and blood systems? Sharing is good.
2. All resources on TM websites in Australia, Canada, and UK are available to anyone with Internet access. In a way, it's a version of foreign aid.
3. Social media is in its infancy but will become ever more powerful as it transmogrifies who controls the message.

FOR FUN

No one says World Wide Web anymore but the web allows us in the West to share resources with those less fortunate around the globe.

Which led me to this month's music choice:

• We are the world (Multiple artists, mainly American - How many do you recognize?)

Also see

• We are the World for Haiti (2010, 25 years later - multiple artists, more international ones. Again, how many do you recognize?)

As always, comments are most welcome.

I heard it through the grapevine (Musings on transfusion professionals & Twitter)

Significant additions in green below: 12 September, 2012
'What is Twitter and why should I care'
'Examples of fun ways to use Twitter at a conference'
`````````````````````

This month's blog is about an item on my wish list:

• That more transfusion professionals get involved with social media, specifically with Twitter. 

It's not a request for professionals to join Facebook (which many already have for personal reasons), as FB is too into selling its users to advertisers. I'm not a fan of FB as those who read my tweets will know, as shown by this blog:

• Twitter trumps Facebook

The blog's title is from a great pub song by Creedence Clearwater Revival, I heard it through the grapevine.

I'm a Twitter fan and currently have multiple accounts, including

@transfusionnews | @bogeywheels | @eurofutball 

More specifically, the blog is a plea for transfusion service entities* to create a twitter account to share news, initiatives, innovations, thoughts about anything transfusion-related.

* Laboratories - individual or regional labs, preferably the former
* Canada's provincial blood offices or equivalent
* Transfusion professionals (docs, nurses, technologists, recruiters, you name it)

Twitter, created by the guys who created blogger, functions as a grapevine and is a great way, perhaps the best way, to learn quickly about 'what's happening'. For example:

• Watching the recent Republican and Democratic conventions on television was a blast, significantly enhanced by following tweets in real time on Twitter. I've interacted with journalists from the CBC, Ottawa Citizen, Toronto Star and and others I'd never talk to in real life. 
• When my favorite UK Premier League team Chelsea plays, it's great fun to participate via Twitter. I'm exposed to many opinions and learn much about the niceties of football (soccer in NA). Reading the tweets of players adds another dimension.
• Those followed with @transfusionnews regularly post health, laboratory, and transfusion news I'm interested in, and often before it appears in local papers. 

If you're a news junkie, as I am, Twitter cannot be beat. As Number 5 from the movie Short Circuit said, Input, more input! 

See Twitter's creator describe its beginning and many uses on TED.

Consider the possibilities for transfusion medicine. I'd love to learn in real time (or close to it)

• Current issues and concerns in local, regional, national, and international  transfusion services, unfiltered by the powers that be 
• What's on the minds of transfusion leaders and trench workers around the globe

And in the process, participate in the extended interactive conversations that Twitter facilitates.

The medium allows people to network beyond their normal social and professional spheres. It's an effective way to connect with people who share your interests.

Similarly, professionals can alert others to web and other resources that can be shared. See my favorite sharing pic.

Yes, I know, 140 characters is limiting. But it's amazing how the need for brevity focuses the mind. And you can always link to photos and existing web-based resources.

If you're into censoring staff and worried about your corporate image, Twitter is probably not for you, at least not without spending time and effort to filter posts through the corporate mindset.

But why not be loosey-goosey, instead of anal-retentive, and credit staff with judgement? 

• All it takes is to develop a few guidelines on what can be posted without being vetted. 
• If staff make life and death decisions, surely they can tweet about a technical or clinical problem or ask for advice on what others do or share a resource without corporate approval. 

Many Internet-based  resources exist to help us in our work, inc. e-mail, mailing lists, and web-based forums. Twitter is another that currently is under-used.

MUSINGS

Will Twitter be adopted by transfusion professionals anytime soon? I doubt it. Obstacles are many, including

• Internet skills and fears of some (not all) transfusion professionals;
• Over-arching control by organizations that want to control an employee's every move;
• Twitter, a newcomer to social media, is not yet widely adopted by all those who initially embraced Facebook;
• Belief that social media is fluff, not serious;
• Elitist tendency to debunk anything that is not evidence based and preferably proven by a RCT;
• Reluctance to participate, based on view that participating is not worthwhile and has a poor ROI (return on investment);
• Too busy, the current all-purpose excuse for not doing anything (even continuing education) beyond meeting basic job duties.

It's easy to join Twitter. You can lurk (as most do on mailing lists) and participate as the mood strikes. 

Please consider giving it a try. For those unfamiliar with Twitter (added 12 Sept. 2012):


What is Twitter and why should I care?

In brief, Twitter is a service (mini-blog) to post text messages of 140 characters or less and share information with many people. The idea is to create groups of people ("followers") who are interested in a given topic, indeed any topic, whether it be politics, football, or transfusion medicine.

Message can be just text or include one or more links to websites. You can also add an image.

You can read the posts of Twitter users without joining but you need to know their Twitter names or addresses, e.g., @transfusionnews (http://twitter.com/transfusionnews)

The way to use Twitter effectively is to create an account and "follow" your favorite users for the latest news of interest.

How Twitter works: Your messages (if you make any) - called tweets - show up on your main Twitter page ('profile' or home page). If other users, (nicknamed tweeps) "follow" you by clicking the Follow button on your page, your messages will show up on their home pages.

Conversely, if you "follow" another user, their messages show up on your page. That way, when you login to your Twitter page, you can see tweets from many users at once. You only follow those who post things you're interested in, and you can un-follow someone at any time.

The way to group messages on a given topic, and allow people to find them, is to place a hashtag (#) directly before relevant keyword or topic. For example, you could use #transfusion to help others find transfusion-related posts:

Interesting case study on a student error in a #transfusion service lab resulting in a hemolytic reaction and death http://goo.gl/OjCP5

Examples of fun ways to use Twitter at a conference:

• If it had existed at the 2002 ISBT World Congress in Vancouver: I'd have loved to tweet on which exhibitors had the best hot hors d'oeuvres or where the best inexpensive breakfast could be found at a diner near the convention centre.
• Exhibitors could tweet on the freebees they offered at their booths, the kind of loot that rabble like me like to gather as mementos.  Maybe it could stimulate even better swag to be on offer?
• The hashtag #nobgnosh could be used to identify in real time which 'notable nobs' were lining up with which exhibitors and where for the ubiquitous free dinners for clients and which restaurants were on offer. Hmmm. Who did I know well enough to I tag long with? Did I want to gnosh Chinese, Italian, or East Indian and with whom? Choices, choices....
• Those of us arriving late for the first sessions of the morning (hey, it happens) could be helped if those inside sessions could tweet on which talks still had seats available. As someone unable to stand in one place for long, this would be a godsend. 
• Would be fun to tweet in real time about a speaker's presentation. The talk and speaker could be exemplary, but here's an example of another type seen all too often at major conferences, e.g., for hypothetical Speaker "A', a way to keep awake: 

• OMG. He's reading every word on his PPT slides and the bullets are complete sentences. 

• Never saw so many words on a slide before. LOL 

• Can't believe he just said, 'I apologize for this slide. I know it's hard to read.'

• That's the 18th time he's said, "Okay" softly under his breath and still 20 mins. to go. Only 10 "ums' so far. Ringing bells!

• Would be neat if in a central area or two, there could be large screens with relevant tweets for all to read, e.g., last minute change of venue, which local tours are still open. The possibilities are endless.

More and more people and organizations use Twitter, which only started in 2006 and now has 100s of millions of users. Even diplomats do it: Twiplomacy 

To discover more on Twitter and how to sign up, search for "how to use twitter".

FOR FUN
Enjoy these songs, circa 1970, from legends of the era:

• I heard it through the grapevine (Creedence Clearwater Revival, 1970) A great pub song, perhaps trumped only by
• Proud Mary (CCR, 1969)

Love Tina's version at Rio de Janeiro concert (part of her 1988 Break Every Rule tour) with over 180,000 spectators, one of the largest concerts ever:

• Proud Mary (Tina Turner, 1988 - 1st 'covered' in 1970 with her then husband, Ike Turner)

As always the ideas are mine alone. Comments are most welcome, BUT, due to excessive spam, please e-mail me personally or use the address in the newsletter notice. Be sure to read those below.