BUNDLE: Standards for Blood Banks and Transfusion Services, 33rd edition – Print and Guidance

The 33rd edition of Standards for Blood Banks and Transfusion Services (BBTS Standards) details the latest standards of practice in blood banking and transfusion medicine. As in the past, each chapter heading represents one of the Quality System Essentials and the quality standards are supplemented by technical requirements. The effective date of this edition is April 1, 2022.

Significant changes in the 33rd edition include:

• In the “Preparation of Components” section (5.7.4 – 5.7.4.27), the standards have been edited to require confidence intervals for certain products where appropriate.
• New Standard 5.7.4.16.1 concerning components created from pathogen-reduced plasma has been added to the Standards to ensure facilities using these products are maintaining them as dictated by manufacturer’s instructions.
• New Standards 5.7.4.23.1, 5.7.4.24.1, 5.7.4.25.1, and 5.7.4.26.1 were created to ensure that low-yield platelet products are labeled appropriately, including an accurate platelet count.
• Standard 5.27.1 contains a new substandard requiring the facilities define a low-titer threshold for the use of group O whole blood.
• A new entry to Reference Standard 5.4.1A concerning the receipt of SARS-COV2 vaccines and any associated deferrals has been added to the Standards. The content of the entry matches the requirements set forth by the FDA in September 2020 that was also included as a separate guidance released by the committee in September 2020.

Guidance for Standards for Blood Banks and Transfusion Services, 33rd edition, includes verbatim requirements from the BBTS Standards interspersed with guidance. Language from the BBTS Standards is presented; when there is appropriate guidance for that standard, the guidance language follows the standard with the heading “Guidance.” This format allows the reader to see both the requirement and the associated guidance side by side.

Please note that there is no guidance for some standards. The 33rd Edition Blood Bank/Transfusion Service Standards Commit­tee has chosen to focus Guidance for Standards for Blood Banks and Transfusion Services on those issues that may require additional context and/or examples to assist in attaining compliance with the Standards.

(AABB, 2022, softcover, 128 pages, ISBN 978-1-56395-443-6, and 2022, AABB, softcover, 128 pages)

Effective date: April 1, 2022

Member price:  $315

Nonmember price: $460

Item Details:

View Table of Contents (pdf)

View Preface (pdf)

View Sample Pages (pdf)