Applying AI and Chatbots in Transfusion Medicine: From Rules-Based Systems to Generative AI (27EL-708)

Please note: AABB reserves the right to make updates to this program.

• Topics: Blood Donation & Collection, Computers, Ethical/Legal Issues, FDA, Immunohematology, Management Operations, Patient & Donor Safety, Quality Systems, Regulatory & Compliance, Research
• Intended Audience: Laboratory Professionals, Physicians, Research Scientists
• Teaching Level: Basic, Intermediate

• Director/Moderator: Zainab Harb, MD, Attending in Blood Banking and Transfusion Medicine, Governmental Hospitals, Salmaniya Medical Complex, Manama, Kingdom of Bahrain
  Speaker: William J. Lane, MD, PhD, A(ACHI), Director, Tissue Typing Laboratory, Brigham and Women's Hospital; Associate Professor, Harvard Medical School and Brigham and Women's Hospital, Boston, MA

• Program Description

  This eCast provides a practical introduction to artificial intelligence and AI chatbots for transfusion medicine professionals. Rather than focusing only on general-purpose chatbots, the program will place chatbots within the broader AI landscape, including rules-based systems, predictive models, generative AI, retrieval-augmented generation, and tool-assisted workflows. The program will emphasize choosing the right type of AI for the task, reducing cognitive burden by assigning repetitive and high-dimensional checks to computers, and preserving professional judgment for exceptions, communication, and final review.

  The program will use published transfusion medicine chatbot studies, practical demonstrations, and case-based examples to show both promise and risk. Examples will include AI-assisted education, literature and policy review, transfusion reaction classification, RhD product-selection questions, therapeutic plasma exchange consultation support, and a SmartRBC demonstration showing how deterministic rules-based serology workflows can be paired with non-deterministic chatbot-style review for completeness and sign-out readiness. The program will also discuss how generative AI can help domain experts write more complete rules, identify edge cases, draft test cases, and build more robust validated software. The overall goal is to help learners move beyond hype or fear toward safe, realistic implementation.

  Learning Objectives

  After participating in this educational activity, participants should be able to:

  • Describe major types of artificial intelligence relevant to transfusion medicine, including rules-based systems, predictive models, and AI chatbots/large language models.
  • Identify transfusion medicine tasks where AI tools may be useful today, such as serology workups, education, documentation, inventory support, and quality review.
  • Discuss strengths and limitations of AI chatbot outputs, including hallucinations, inconsistent or non-deterministic answers, privacy concerns, unsupported citations, and the need for expert verification.
  • Apply practical safeguards for evaluating and using AI-assisted outputs in transfusion medicine workflows, including source grounding, local validation, audit trails, and human-in-the-loop (HITL) oversight.

  Registration

  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

  Continuing Education Credit

  This activity is eligible for one (1.0) 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 (1.0) AMA PRA Category 1 Credit^TM. AABB designates this enduring activity for a maximum of one (1.0) AMA PRA Category 1 Credit^TM. 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:

  • Live Activity Program Date: February 24, 2027; Credit Expiration Date: March 24, 2027
  • Enduring Activity Program Dates: February 24, 2027 – February 23, 2030; Credit Expiration Date: February 23, 2030

  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.

  Faculty Biographies

  Dr. Zainab Harb is an American board certified clinical and anatomic pathologist in Salmaniya Medical Complex. She recently received the American Board in Blood Banking and Transfusion Medicine after fellowship training in the United States. She obtained her medical degree from the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland – Medical University of Bahrain. She is an active member of many pathology societies including Association for the Advancements of Blood and Biotherapies (AABB) and International Society of Blood Transfusion (ISBT), where she is currently the Eastern Mediterranean representative and secretary at the Young Professional Council.

  
  

  Dr. William Lane is Director of the Tissue Typing Laboratory at Brigham and Women’s Hospital and an Instructor at Harvard Medical School. He is board certified in Clinical Pathology, Blood Banking/Transfusion Medicine, and Clinical Informatics. His clinical and informatics work focuses on transfusion medicine, histocompatibility, laboratory automation, and the development of decision-support systems for complex laboratory workflows. Dr. Lane develops laboratory information systems, rules-based interpretation tools, and AI-assisted software for transfusion medicine and immunohematology. He is Medical Lead and co-developer of the ISBT Blood Group Database and co-founder of Transfusion Medicine Question of the Day. His research spans blood group genomics, HLA, transfusion informatics, and AI-enabled laboratory decision support.