The presence of multiple alloantibodies or an antibody to a high-prevalance antigen in a patient sample can pose challenges in antibody identification. The pattern of reactivity seen on an antibody panel may show various strengths of reactivity by different methods of testing or same strength of reactivity at one or more phases of testing. To ensure proper identification, multiple investigative tools may be used. We review one of these methods—inhibition by soluble substances—which has become an expansion of our toolbox within the past 10 years. Alloantibodies can be inhibited using specific soluble substances. These soluble substances occur naturally in various fluids or can be manufactured. When a patient sample contains multiple antibodies, clinically significant or not, inhibition of one may help determine specificities of others. Specific inhibition of a particular antibody will also help to confirm its presence.

Specialist in Blood Banking (SBB) programs play an important role in preparing technologists to become leaders and contributors to the field of transfusion medicine through dedicated education and training. The SBB program at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) Clinical Center has graduated 55 students since 1994 with an overall pass rate of 96 percent for the American Society for Clinical Pathology (ASCP) SBB examination. Graduates hold positions in a variety of transfusion medicine-related fields, with hospitals, blood centers, and Immunohematology Reference Laboratories being the most common categories of employer. Projects completed as part of the program added to transfusion medicine knowledge as evidenced by publications and awards. Almost half of all projects completed led to publications (49%), and greater than 50 percent of submissions have been selected for the AABB Future Leaders Scholarship (previously known as AABB Fenwal Scholarship Award). The students have completed over 40 program value-added opportunities. This information was available for retrieval and review. In this review, we analyzed data for the last 25 years from the SBB program at the NIH Clinical Center on program statistics, student accomplishments (such as publications in peer-reviewed journals), program value-added opportunities (such as other publications and audits performed with our Quality Assurance office), and job procurement. The collected, reviewed, and organized data provided a useful internal self-assessment to review the history of our program and head into the future. Immunohematology 2020;36:7-13.