Lackland medical center labs receive 2-year accreditation

  • Published
  • By Master Sgt. Kimberly A. Yearyean-Siers
  • 59th Medical Wing Public Affairs
LACKLAND AIR FORCE BASE, Texas (AFNS) --  The labs at San Antonio Military Medical Center-South recently received a two-year accreditation from the AABB, an organization recognized by the industry for monitoring and advancing transfusion and cellular therapies worldwide.

The accreditation involved an intensive on-site assessment by AABB evaluators Nov. 18 and 19. 

Their findings proved that the labs at SAMMC-South, also known as the Wilford Hall Medical Center, met or exceeded their stringent standards. The AABB inspects approximately 1,800 facilities across the United States and abroad.

Examples of the evaluation process included an inspector following a unit of red cells from issue in the blood bank to transfusion to a patient in the oncology outpatient clinic. An inspector also observed the collection of a sample for pretransfusion testing from the patient and a stem cell harvest from an oncology patient. One of the inspectors also evaluated the operating room's perioperative blood salvage program.

"Our three major labs are integral in supporting all patients in need of blood products at Wilford Hall," said Maj. Kathryn Shaw, the blood services element chief. 

The AABB accreditation is a voluntary process, but is the designation of choice for blood banking, transfusion medicine, blood management, relationship testing and cellular therapies.

"Volunteering for this inspection demonstrates our organization's commitment to advancing learning opportunities, continuous process improvement and striving to sustain the highest possible level of patient and donor care," Major Shaw said.

AABB accreditation highlights the many diverse services and products SAMMC-South labs provide. The following departments and services were surveyed:
-- The transfusion service, better known as the blood bank, provides red blood cells, platelets, plasma, and specialized blood products in support of hospitalized patients. Departments served include the emergency department/trauma center, hematology/oncology, operating rooms, intensive care units and the extracorporeal membrane oxygenation system.
-- apheresis/cellular therapy collects stem cells for the bone marrow transplant unit, supporting patients with leukemias and other cancers. The department obtains apheresis platelets from blood donors and performs all therapeutic apheresis procedures, to include red cell exchange, red cell phlebotomy, plasma exchange and autologous red cell collection. SAMMC-South has one of only four labs in Texas accredited in this procedure which supports patients with leukemias and other cancers with bone marrow. Worldwide there are only 108 facilities accredited by the AABB for this procedure.

The Lackland Blood Donor Center is the largest center in the Department of Defense, with the highest weekly war quota. The center collects 18,000 donations each year to support military operations worldwide; ships 15,000 products to war zones annually; supplies more than 90 percent of the SAMMC-South blood inventory; and supports the Audie Murphy Veteran's Hospital and the San Antonio Military Medical Center-North, formerly known as the Brooke Army Medical Center, at Fort Sam Houston, Texas, with blood products.

"We volunteered to undergo the AABB accreditation process because this program assists facilities around the world in achieving excellence by promoting a level of professional and medical expertise that contributes to quality performance," said Col. Dale Ferguson, the 59th Laboratory Squadron commander. 

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