Rapid establishment of a COVID‐19 convalescent plasma program in a regional health care delivery network

• Published in: Transfusion (Philadelphia, Pa.) Pa.), 2020-10, Vol.60 (10), p.2203-2209
• Main Authors: Blackall, Douglas, Wulff, Shephali, Roettger, Timothy, Jacobs, Lauren, Lacasse, Alexandre, Patri, Manokiran, Zinser, Phillip, Pherez, Francisco, Jamkhana, Zafar, Frey, Sharon E., Smith, Linda, Goel, Ruchika, Katz, Louis
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Adult; Aged; Antibodies; Blood Donors - statistics & numerical data; Blood Transfusion - statistics & numerical data; Collaboration; Convalescence; COVID-19; COVID-19 - blood; COVID-19 - therapy; Critical Care; Delivery of Health Care; Female; Health care; Health care delivery; Health care facilities; Hospitals; Hospitals - statistics & numerical data; Humans; Immunization, Passive - methods; Infectious diseases; Information technology; Male; Medical personnel; Middle Aged; Patients; Pharmacists; Physicians; Public health; SARS-CoV-2 - pathogenicity; Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2; Sustainability; Transfusion; Transfusion Medicine; Young Adult
• ISSN: 0041-1132; 1537-2995
• DOI: 10.1111/trf.16026

Background COVID‐19 convalescent plasma (CCP) represents an appealing approach to the treatment of patients with infections due to SARS‐CoV‐2. We endeavored to quickly establish a sustainable CCP transfusion program for a regional network of health care facilities. Study design and methods A regional collaborative group was activated to address the issues necessary to implementing a CCP transfusion program and making the program sustainable. A wide range of health care providers including physicians (critical care, infectious disease, transfusion medicine), nurses, pharmacists, laboratorians, and information technology (IT) specialists were required to make the program a success. Results The CCP implementation team initially consisted of four members but quickly grew to a group of nearly 20 participants based on different issues related to program implementation. Overall, six major implementation “themes” were addressed: (a) registration of individual hospitals and principal investigators with a national investigational new drug research protocol; (b) collaboration with a regional blood donor center; (c) targeted recruitment of convalesced donors; (d) IT issues related to all aspects of CCP ordering, distribution, and transfusion; (e) prioritization of patients to receive CCP; and (f) evaluation of CCP products including antibody characteristics and patient response to therapy. Conclusion Within 4 weeks of initiation, CCP was successfully transfused at multiple hospitals in our regional health care delivery system. A program infrastructure was established that will make this program sustainable into the future. This approach has broader implications for the success of multi‐institutional programs requiring rapid implementation.