Please note: AABB reserves the right to make updates to this program.
Wednesday, September 16, 2026
2:00 – 3:00 PM Eastern Time
Program Number: 26EL-672
Director/Moderator: Jasmine "Jazzy" Steele, MD, Assistant Professor of Clinical Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine, Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, Philadelphia, PA
Speaker: Kerry O'Brien, MD, Medical Director Blood Bank, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Boston, MA
Rh immune globulin (RhIG) was introduced to market in 1968 as a method of preventing anti-D alloimmunization in RhD negative pregnant women. The use of postpartum RhIG, and the later introduction of antepartum dosing, resulted in a reduction in the rate of anti-D alloimmunization in at-risk pregnancies from 13-16% to 0.14-0.2%. RhIG is one of the most important advances in perinatal medicine; however, as RhIG is a human-derived product, it is subject to the same inventory shortages that plague blood products. The FDA announced a shortage of Rh immune globulin in December 2023 that has lasted through 2025.
In late 2024, members of the Clinical Hemotherapy Subsection of the AABB Transfusion Medicine Subsection Coordinating Committee sent out a survey on RhIG usage during the shortage to AABB member institutions to assess practices. Results indicated that, even during the national shortage while there were reports of RhD negative pregnant women in scattered areas of the US being unable to receive their standard RhIG antepartum and postpartum doses, there was misuse of RhIG in populations of nonchildbearing patients. This program will discuss evidence-based use of RhIG in the target population for which it was created (RhD negative pregnant women). Non-recommended use in men and women outside of childbearing potential will be discussed and the ethics of such use will be briefly touched on.
After participating in this educational activity, participants should be able to:
Registration includes access to both the live and on-demand version of this eCast.
If you are a facility interested in participating in this eCast, simply complete the Group Viewing registration form and AABB will provide detailed instructions to share with your team approximately one week prior to the live program (each team member to register for the program utilizing a promocode). For single viewers, simply click on the Register button below to register.
Please note: registration for the live eCast will close 1 hour prior to the eCast start time. If you register after this time, you will receive access to the on-demand eCast when it is available.
| Single Viewer | Register |
| Group Viewing | Register |
This activity is eligible for one (1) continuing education credit/contact hour for Physicians, California Nurses, California Lab Personnel, Florida Lab Personnel and General Participation credit. AABB reserves the right to reduce or increase the number of credits granted based on the final activity duration. For more information on each credit type please visit our Continuing Education Credits webpage.
There is no financial support for this activity.
In support of improving patient care, this activity has been planned and implemented by the Association for the Advancement of Blood & Biotherapies (AABB), which is jointly accredited by the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education (ACCME), the Accreditation Council for Pharmacy Education (ACPE), and the American Nurses Credentialing Center (ANCC), to provide continuing education for the healthcare team.
Physicians (ACCME): AABB designates this live activity for a maximum of one (1) AMA PRA Category 1 CreditTM. AABB designates this enduring activity for a maximum of one (1) AMA PRA Category 1 CreditTM. Physicians should claim only the credit commensurate with the extent of their participation in the activity.
Claiming Credit
Live Activity - Upon completion of the live activity, you will receive instructions to complete your evaluation, which is necessary to claim credit and receive your certificate of attendance/completion (credit must be claimed by the date provided in the instructions). The evaluation can be found by logging into the AABB Education Platform.
Enduring Activity - Once the enduring (on-demand) program is available, you will receive instructions to access the AABB Education Platform. Upon completion of viewing the enduring activity, you will need to complete the evaluation, which is necessary to claim credit and receive your certificate of completion (credit must be claimed by the date provided in the AABB Education Platform).
Program & Credit Expiration Dates:
Disclosure Declaration
It is the policy of the Association for the Advancement of Blood & Biotherapies to ensure independence, balance, objectivity, and scientific rigor and integrity in all of its CE activities. Faculty must disclose to the participants any relationships with commercial companies whose primary business is producing, marketing, selling, re-selling, or distributing healthcare products used by or on patients. AABB has evaluated, identified, and mitigated any potential conflicts of interest through a rigorous content validation procedure, use of evidence-based data/research, and a multidisciplinary peer review process. The following information is for participant information only. It is not assumed that the presence of such relationships will have a negative impact on the presentations.
Disclosures for the planners of this event can be found here. Disclosures for the program faculty, peer reviewers, and AABB personnel are provided at the beginning of the program.
Dr. Kerry O'Brien is the medical director of the blood bank and the blood bank/transfusion medicine fellowship program director at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston, MA. She completed her residency in anatomic and clinical pathology at Madigan Army Medical Center in Tacoma, WA and her blood bank/transfusion medicine fellowship at Puget Sound Blood Center (now Bloodworks Northwest). Prior to joining BIDMC, Dr. O'Brien was the medical director of the blood bank at Madigan Army Medical Center and the medical director of the Armed Services Blood Bank Center – Pacific Northwest. Dr. O'Brien is the chair of the Clinical Hemotherapy subsection of the AABB Transfusion Medicine Subsection Coordinating Committee and the AABB representative to ACOG/AWHONN/CMQCC. Her areas of interest include perinatal transfusion medicine, especially preventing the morbidity and mortality associated with hemolytic disease of the fetus and newborn (HDFN). She is an advocate for stringent scientifically sound evidence-based medicine and believes it (instead of mob-rule) should be used to guide practice.
Dr. Jasmine Steele is an attending pediatric and perinatal pathologist in the Division of Anatomic Pathology at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia. She is also an attending physician in the Division of Transfusion Medicine at CHOP.
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