OVERVIEW

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The Europe, Middle East, and Africa Technical Advisory Group (EMATAG) expanded its reach to Africa in 2011. However, the original core group was established in 1997.

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The purpose of the group is to:  

• Enhance and expand the ISBT 128 Standard for use with blood components in Europe, the Middle East, and Africa;

• Provide advice and support to facilities introducing the ISBT 128 Standard;

• Generate, review, and comment upon proposed changes to the ISBT 128 Standard and its supporting documents;

• Prepare educational material and tools to support the implementation of ISBT 128; and   

• Promote the adoption of the ISBT 128 Standard in their region as well as globally. 

SUMMARY OF RECENT ACTIVITY

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Jolanta Antoniewicz-Papis has been appointed as the new Chair.

 

The group may be considering how it can contribute to a larger external project on developing standardized inventory status codes and uniform definitions to support traceability and hemovigilance, and the role in which the ISBT 128 Standard could play in establishing it. Industry user input is needed to determine what information or status codes need to be tracked. 

 

EMATAG discussed the role of ISBT 128 beyond labeling- this includes standardized terminology, reference tables, and standardized electronic messages for the transfer of MPHO product information from one facility to another. ICCBBA has produced major work products correlated with moving beyond the label including ST-020 – ISBT 128 Standard for XML Electronic Messaging; ST-026 – ISBT 128 Standard for the Medical Products of Human Origin (MPHO) Unique Identifier; ST-027 – ISBT 128 Standard ISBT 128 Dictionary of Standard Data Elements IG-048 – Implementation Guide: MPHO Unique Identifier; BiologicallyDerivedProduct – HL7 FHIR/USCDI.

 

ICCBBA has published the following electronic messaging documents: ST-020 – ISBT 128 Standard for XML Electronic Messaging; ST-026 – ISBT 128 Standard for the Medical Products of Human Origin (MPHO) Unique Identifier; ST-027 – ISBT 128 Dictionary of Standard Data Elements; IG-048 – Implementation Guide: MPHO Unique Identifier.

 

EMATAG plans to meet on a quarterly basis.

 

ICCBBA is incorporating the use of Loomio to facilitate asynchronous TAG discussions.