Transfusion Medicine for Resident Physicians

Immunohematology
Transfusion Reactions
Apheresis
Reference Materials

Making Transfusion Medicine Accessible

I love how Transfusion Medicine bridges laboratory and clinical medicine. But this is also why many find it intimidating.

I know there are other sites teaching Transfusion Medicine, but I’m building this site specifically for residents and fellows. I want to provide a curriculum and guidance to a part of medicine I really enjoy practicing.

My goal is to make Transfusion Medicine more accessible and inclusive. Whether you’re here to learn the basics or deepen your understanding, I hope to help make your learning a rewarding experience.

In addition, I’m building this website to be inclusive of diverse learning styles and individuals that use the web differently. According to the CDC, one in four Americans experience some form of disability. Many members of this group use the web differently than you or me. For example, they may employ screen readers, require sufficient color contrast between page elements, and/or rely on additional visual cues for page navigation. As a firm believer in disability inclusion, I am developing the site to support such users by making sure everybody has the same opportunities to participate to the best of their abilities and desires.

If you look to your right of the screen there is an accessibility toolbar for visually altering the site and each page is supportive of additional enhanced accessibility. I welcome any feedback to improve the experience for everyone.

Tristan McKnight, M.D.
Tristan McKnight, M.D.

Hello! I’m a Blood Bank / Transfusion Medicine (BB/TM) physician who enjoys educating. While residents and fellows are regularly expected to learn on their own in medical training, I believe that creating an effective curriculum that delivers education is a responsibility of our profession. My hope is this material will provide such a curriculum and learning to help train physicians that I will trust as providers to my loved ones.

I completed my medical school at University of Vermont, Internship and Residency at University of California, San Diego, and my BB/TM Fellowship at Mayo Clinic, Rochester. I’m board certified and practice in the Blood Center world of Transfusion Medicine.

I’m in the very early stages of building the site, so bear with me as I flush out the content over the next few months. Once my static, written content is up, I’ll add board style review questions, quick review references, and concise recorded “hot topic reviews”.

Finally, please note: BB/TM is medicine. This is an educational website only. Please only use this website as an educational resource. It is not meant to define medical practice and may not reflect your medical center’s policies and/or procedures.

Immunohematology

Learn how antibody identification works. From alloantibodies to autoantibodies, with a little practice you’ll be ready for service.

Learn Immunohematology

Transfusion Reactions

Learn key features for defining transfusion reactions and practice working your differential with select case studies.

Learn Transfusion Reactions

Standards

Figure out what you need to know about regulations with repetition to lock in knowledge of essential transfusion medicine facts.

Learn Standards

Apheresis

Understand the procedures, indications, pre-procedural evaluations, replacement fluids and anticoagulation considerations to safely manage apheresis service.

Learn Apheresis

Latest Learning

ABO Antigens – The Basics Are Important

The enzymatic process of antigen expression is important to understand because it lays the foundation for understanding ABO type and its implications to clinical and laboratory medicine.

ABO and H Antigen Expression

There are different activity levels of the transferases in converting H antigen into A or B antigen. One significant implication of this is that A2 individuals can create an anti-A1 antibody.

Antibodies – The Essentials

Understanding a few concepts of IgG and IgM are essential to appreciate the concepts of clinical significance and routine blood bank testing methodologies.

ABO Antibodies

ABO antibodies are crucial to understand well. Here we’ll cover how ABO antibodies are formed and review blood group compatibility.

Bombay Phenotype

Bombay Phenotype is extremely rare, but it is a disease that brings together many important concepts. As such, it is wonderful to study and folks tend to favor it on exams.