About

Using Blood Wisely is a national campaign to decrease inappropriate red blood cell transfusion practices in Canada. It is organized by Choosing Wisely Canada, in partnership with Canadian Blood Services.

Aim

The aim of Using Blood Wisely is to mobilize hospitals across Canada to make a measureable impact on reducing inappropriate red blood cell transfusions. This involves a concerted effort to assess appropriateness against national benchmarks, as well as the adoption of evidence-based transfusion practices in its pursuit.

The establishment of Using Blood Wisely, including national benchmarks and the suite of evidence-based interventions, has been guided by a national Steering Committee and several technical working groups.

Steering Committee

  • Yulia Lin, Division Head, Transfusion Medicine and Tissue Bank, Sunnybrook Health Sciences
  • Wendy Levinson, Chair, Choosing Wisely Canada
  • Tai Huynh, Campaign Director, Choosing Wisely Canada
  • Doreen Day, Project Manager, Pan-Canadian Initiatives, Choosing Wisely Canada
  • Denise Evanovitch, Regional Manager, Southwestern Ontario, ORBCoN (retired)
  • Troy Thompson, Regional Manager, Central Ontario, ORBCoN
  • Jeremy Grimshaw, Senior Scientist, Ottawa Hospital Research Institute
  • Andrea Patey, Senior Research Associate, Ottawa Hospital Research Institute
  • Ryan Lett, Anesthesiologist and Physician Lead for the Patient Blood Management Program, Saskatchewan Health Authority
  • Jeannie Callum, Director of Transfusion Medicine and Tissue Banks, Sunnybrook Health Sciences
  • Kathryn Webert, Medical Director and Special Advisor, Canadian Blood Services
  • Tanya Pertraszko, Director of Hospital Relations and Medical Services,Canadian Blood Services
  • Robert Romans, Associate Director, Hospital Relations, Canadian Blood Services
  • Liudmila Husak, Manager, Health Reports, Canadian Institute for Health Information
  • Tracy Johnson, Director, Health System Analysis and Emerging Issues,Canadian Institute for Health Information
  • Brian Wong, General Internal Medicine, Sunnybrook Health Sciences
  • Shelley Fenestra, TMS Clinical Resource, Transfusion Medicine Laboratory, Vancouver Coastal Health
  • Anne Robinson, Transfusion Medicine Manager, Horizon Health (retired)
  • Brenda Jackson,Provincial Director, BC Provincial Blood Coordinating Office
  • Roger Stoddard, Public Member
  • Lawrie Kaplan, Public Member

Intervention Working Group

  • Yulia Lin, Division Head, Transfusion Medicine and Tissue Bank, Sunnybrook Health Sciences
  • Doreen Day, Project Manager, Pan-Canadian Initiatives, Choosing Wisely Canada
  • Tai Huynh, Campaign Director, Choosing Wisely Canada
  • Denise Evanovitch, Regional Manager, Southwestern Ontario ORBCoN (retired)
  • Andrea Patey, Senior Research Associate, Ottawa Hospital Research Institute
  • Kate Chipperfield, Hematopathologist, BC Children’s Hospital
  • Daphne Osborn, Manager, NL Provincial Blood Program
  • Melissa Leonard, Utilization/Quality Coordinator NL Provincial Blood Program
  • Karen O’Leary, Regional Lab Manager, Eastern Health
  • Daniel Niven, ICU Physician, University of Calgary
  • Ashi Mehta, Project Manager, Physician Learning Program, University of Calgary
  • Jennifer LeFrense, Manager, Nova Scotia Provincial Blood Coordinating Team Nova Scotia Health Authority
  • Christine Peters, Choosing Wisely Manitoba Regional Coordinator
  • Charles Musuka Medical Director, Transfusion Medicine, Shared Health Manitoba
  • Arjuna Ponnampalam Transfusion Specialist, Diagnostic Services of Manitoba, Cancer Care Manitoba
  • Shauna Paul, Nurse Manager, Bestblood Manitoba
  • Darcy Heron, Transfusion Medicine Technical Director, Shared Health Manitoba

Measurement Working Group

  • Yulia Lin, Division Head, Transfusion Medicine and Tissue Bank, Sunnybrook Health Sciences
  • Doreen Day, Project Manager, Pan-Canadian Initiatives, Choosing Wisely Canada
  • Troy Thompson, Regional Manager, Central Ontario, ORBCoN
  • Brian Wong, General Internal Medicine, Sunnybrook Health Sciences

Site Engagement Working Group

  • Yulia Lin, Division Head, Transfusion Medicine and Tissue Bank, Sunnybrook Health Sciences
  • Doreen Day, Project Manager, Pan-Canadian Initiatives, Choosing Wisely Canada
  • Tai Huynh, Campaign Director, Choosing Wisely Canada
  • Cherry Chu, Biostatistician, Women’s College Hospital
  • Troy Thompson, Regional Manager, Central Ontario, ORBCoN
  • Andrea Patey, Senior Research Associate, Ottawa Hospital Research Institute
  • Robert Romans, Associate Director, Hospital Relations, Canadian Blood Services
  • Katerina Gapanenko, Manager, Health System Research, Canadian Institute for Health Information
  • Calvino Cheng, Director of Pathology Informatics and Director of Blood Transfusion Services, Nova Scotia Health Authority

Special Thanks

A special thanks to:

  • Donna Berta, Emily Durant, Denise Evanovich, Dr. Ryan Lett, and Anne Robinson for developing and recording the educational modules for prescribers, nurses and technologists;
  • The Ontario Transfusion Quality Improvement Committee for the development and sharing of resources used for the Using Blood Wisely initiative and valuable feedback and input; and
  • The START study team for the development and sharing of resources used for the Using Blood Wisely initiative.

Core Team

Project support for Using Blood Wisely has been provided by Choosing Wisely Canada, principally through the leadership of:

  • Yulia Lin, Transfusion Lead, Choosing Wisely Canada
  • Doreen Day, Project Manager, Pan-Canadian Initiatives, Choosing Wisely Canada