Our conferences and seminars are free to the professional community and cover topics of interest to people in blood bank, clinical, and medical settings. Each conference is 75 to 90 minutes long and earns continuing-education contact/credit hours.

For more information or to register for a seminar, please contact Joni Lutke, Technical Education Coordinator, at 616-233-8576 or toll-free in Michigan 1-866-MIBLOOD (642-5663)

Red Cell Polyagglutination

Tuesday, November 22, 2011 - 2pm to 3:15pm

Grand Rapids

RSVP BY – Friday, November 18

Polyagglutination is caused by blood infection or when a hematologic disorder modifies the red cell membrane – and is occasionally caused by a rare inherited condition. Red cells are polyagglutinable when they are agglutinated by almost all normal sera. 

Session objectives:

• Identify the laboratory features of polyagglutination.

• Identify diseases associated with polyagglutination.

• Distinguish between acquired and inherited polyagglutination.

• Recognize the clinical significance of polyagglutination.

Leadership Management Teleconference: Developing Employees’ Life Skills…Good for Them & Good for the Company?

Tuesday, December 6, 2011 - 2pm to 3:30pm

Grand Rapids, Saginaw, Traverse City

RSVP BY – Friday, December 2

One organization’s recent employee surveys indicated the employees felt the company was not doing a good job helping them develop their careers. A needs assessment conducted with management around the same time indicated that some employees lacked well-developed life skills. This organization chose to provide a training program addressing these skills. Individuals involved in the project’s design, development, and implementation will share how they chose the content of the training, developed a communication plan and the process used to train the staff, and the results of the endeavor.

Session objectives:

• Identify your employees’ needs using employee surveys and formal needs assessment.

• Discuss how life skills training can help employees develop and contribute to meeting the organization’s business needs.

• Describe ways to “sell” front line employee/associate life skills training.

Blood Group Antibody Titers: Methodologies & Clinical Indications

Wednesday, December 21, 2011 2 pm to 3:15pm

Grand Rapids

RSVP BY – Monday, December 19

Blood group antibody titration is a controversial test performed in the blood bank. These tests are requested for a variety of indications, including monitoring pregnancies complicated by maternal alloantibodies that may affect the fetus, and some institutions advocate the use of ABO antibody titer determination when transfusing platelets containing ABO-incompatible plasma. 

Session objectives:

• Identify methods for performing blood group antibody titrations.

• Recognize the advantages and disadvantages of techniques for titer determination.

• Identify the clinical settings in which blood group titers should be determined.

• Apply blood group titers in the clinical