On September 30, 2019, the United States Food and Drug Administration released the long awaited final guidance on bacterial risk control in platelets (see episode 076 for more details). One way that transfusion services can fulfill the recommendations in the guidance is to implement pathogen reduction technology. Dr. Pat Kopko and her team at the University of California-San Diego are well ahead of the curve, as they implemented PR-platelets in their hospital WAY back in 2017! Along the way, UCSD and their blood supplier (American Red Cross) had to answer many difficult questions and make many decisions. Pat joins me to describe lessons learned, with an eye toward where this all fits with the FDA guidance.

NOTE: CE credit has expired for this episode.