Clinical Transfusion Practice: Small steps and giant leaps

This Grand Rounds presentation was originally given as The Ruth Sanger Oration at the Blood conference in 2022.  The Ruth Sanger Medal is awarded annually by the Australian and New Zealand Society of blood transfusion to someone who has made a significant contribution to the field of transfusion medicine. It is made in memory of the extraordinary contributions of Ruth Sanger, an Australian scientist and blood group serologist whose meticulous work led to significant increases in our knowledge of blood groups, blood-group antibodies, and the genetics of blood groups.

Why did I order the test when I don’t know what it means?

Pathology tests are fundamental to the diagnosis and management of almost all children who present to RCH, and we collectively order thousands of them every day. Yet if we don’t know what is normal, how do we interpret what is abnormal?