Rev. Bras. Hematol. Hemoter. vol.36 número6

revbrashematolhemoter.2014;36(6):383–384

Revista

Brasileira

de

Hematologia

e

Hemoterapia

Brazilian

Journal

of

Hematology

and

Hemotherapy

w w w . r b h h . o r g

Editorial

Accreditation

program

for

blood

banking

and

cell

therapy

services

–

a

defining

moment

in

the

expansion

and

qualification

of

Brazilian

services

Dimas

Tadeu

Covas

Associac¸ãoBrasileiradeHematologia,HemoterapiaeTerapiaCelular(ABHH),RiodeJaneiro,RJ,Brazil

TheAssociac¸ãoBrasileiradeHematologia,Hemoterapiae

Ter-apiaCelular(ABHH)andtheAmericanAssociationofBlood

Banks(AABB),previouslycalledtheAmericanSocietyofBlood

Banks,havebeen workingtogethersince2011todevelopa

jointaccreditationprogramforbloodbankingandtransfusion,

andcelltherapyservicesbasedontheAABBstandards.

Theprogramisanaccreditationmodelwithinternational

standardsdesignedbythesetwoinstitutionstomaintainand

improvethe quality andsafety ofblood transfusion,tissue

transplantationandcelltherapyactivitiescarriedoutby

ser-vicesinBrazil.

Started in 2006, the stages of the project were jointly

designed bythe two organizations with the aimof

trans-forming the services into an innovative and exemplary

business.Theinitialagreementwassignedduringthe

Brazil-ianCongress ofHematology,Hematologyand Cell Therapy

(Hemo2011) inNovember2011withthe goalofdeveloping

theAABB/ABHHAccreditationProgramforBloodBankingand

TransfusionServices.

Theprogram was officially launched inBrazil atHemo

2012.Atthistime,thepartnershipwasexpandedtoinclude

celltherapy,thusgivingrisetotheAccreditationProgramfor

CellularTherapy Serviceswiththeaimofguaranteeingthe

∗ _{Correspondingauthorat:RuaDr.DiogodeFaria,775,VilaMariana,04037-002SãoPaulo,SP,Brazil.}

E-mailaddress:[email protected](D.T.Covas).

qualityandsafetyofcollection,processing,storageand

clini-caladministrationofcelltherapyproducts.

Atthemoment,severalcentersarepreparingfor

accred-itation.By theendof2015,therewillbe15newaccredited

transfusion and cell therapy services. Two centers have

alreadybeenaccredited,BIOTECandtheHemocentrodeSão

Paulo, and three others are already scheduled for

accred-itation: the Hemocentro coordenador do Estado do Pará –

HEMOPA,HemocentroCoordenadordoestadodeSanta

Cata-rina–HEMOSCandtheHemocentroCoordenadordoEstado

deMinasGerais–Hemominas.Theaccreditationoftenother

bloodbanksandcelltherapycentersarebeingnegotiatedwith

ahighprobabilityofapproval.

Weknowitisgoingtobetoughfortheaccreditationsystem

togoforwardinBrazilduetothenecessaryculturalchanges.

Theaccreditationprocessrequiressmalladjustmentsbut,in

general,itissatisfactory.TheofficesoftheABHHarein

con-stantcontactinordertominimizethedifficultiesofachieving

accreditation thus achievingmore thansatisfactory results

withaccreditationcasesbeingdiscussedandputintopractice

withfurtheradjustmentswherenecessary.

FortheABHH,accreditationisakeytotheevolutionofthe

qualityofBraziliantransfusionandcelltherapyservicesand

http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.bjhh.2014.09.010

1516-8484/©2014Associac¸ãoBrasileiradeHematologia,HemoterapiaeTerapiaCelular.PublishedbyElsevierEditoraLtda.Allrights

384

bloodbanks.Thecountryhastheprivilegeofhavingthis

pro-gramwhosesolidity,credibilityandinternationalacceptance

isguaranteedbyboththeABHHandtheAABBthusallowing

‘AABBstandards’ tobetranslatedand adaptedtoBrazilian

conditions.Braziliscurrentlytheonlycountry intheworld

thathasthispartnershipandtheexperiencehasservedasa

modelfortheexpansionofAABBaccreditationtothe

interna-tionalarena.WeattheABHHareproudtobethepioneersin

thisareaandwethankallthosewhobelievedandcontributed

tothesuccessoftheprogram,whichwillsurelyexpandrapidly

overthecomingyears.

Conflicts

of

interest