Proceedings of a Consensus Conference: Risk-Based Decision Making for Blood Safety

Making good policy decisions: a discipline we cannot afford to ignore

“…These findings are strikingly consistent with the conclusions of the International Consensus Conference on Risk‐Based Decision Making for Blood Safety (Toronto, 2010) and the subsequent efforts by the Alliance of Blood Operators to produce a framework to integrate these concerns into an overall risk profile to inform the decision‐making process. The notion of “framework” conveys a structured approach: a systematic methodology for setting the best course of action under uncertainty by identifying, assessing, communicating, and mitigating risk.…”

Risk of exposure to blood products during pregnancy: guidance for Zika and other donor deferral policies

“…A significant strength of our study is the inclusion of all transfusions given to expectant mothers in both the inpatient and the outpatient setting, over a 6‐year period of time. Blood centers have long been striving to implement risk‐based decision making to maintain both the safety and the adequacy of the blood supply in the face of various challenges, including emerging pathogens . As this often includes risk modeling, the quality of data for various variables will ultimately influence the accuracy of the model.…”

Risk‐based decision making: a good start to aiding US blood policy decisions?

“…It is intended to provide decision makers with a “structured and systematic process” to consider factors related to blood safety, including emerging risks, evolving technology, societal and ethical issues, and economic factors and to help ensure that finite resources are allocated to the most significant risks (Fig. ) . ABO provided time and expertise and fully supported AABB in its use of the RBDM framework.…”