I just recently took over as the Blood Bank Lead/Supervisor and have been contemplating getting an AABB individual membership. My facility won’t pay for it unfortunately, so before I spend $170 I want to see if it’s worth it. We are only CLIA certified and not accredited by any agency, but I would like for us to follow AABB standards (or CAP, etc.). We have copies of the standards and technical manual but I would like to find good resources for improving our procedures and practices. My first project is to require ABO confirmations before giving type specific RBCs. I was also curious about the mentorship program and what that would offer. Any advice would be greatly appreciated. 

We were always AABB accredited.  That requires a facility representative.  That was always me.  That gave me the equivalent of individual access.  In fact, it was not possible (well everything is possible) to have an individual membership if you are also the site representative.

They do have a best practices sections, which is great.  We also have a document library here, and members here are always willing to share their ideas on topics, if not their actual SOPs, just ask. 

You do get a discount on their books like Standards and the Technical Manual.  With your membership, you also get a monthly subscription to Transfusion.

I used their mentorship program after being in the filed for over 25 years.  I got a new position, and the mentor they assigned me was wonderful.  We talked through a lot of challenging situations I was facing.

There are other sections of their site that become unlocked.

Is it worth it, that's up to you.

 

I never regretted my individual AABB membership.  They can be an excellent resource, especially in your new position.  Having said that, I imagine things may have changed since my retirement.  I would suggest getting a membership, if you are not seeing the cost: benefit ratio in your favor you can always cancel or just not renew.

My facility is not AABB accredited, just Joint Commission and FDA, and I have an individual membership. I am the supervisor, and we are a large level 1 metropolitan trauma hospital. I have gained so much from my membership. Everything Cliff mentioned about resources is true, and I can't tell you how many times we've taken advantage of the discount on books for my pathologists (none of whom are transfusion medicine specialists). 

AABB membership also opened up all the subcommittees and sections, and I now sit on 9 subsections and lead one of them. I am also a mentor in the program Cliff mentioned above. 

I would say it's worth it for at least one year, so you can try it out and see what you get from it. Pro tip: if you love it, they do offer a 3 year membership option that knocks some of the cost down.  

As someone from the UK (born there, still live there and worked all my professional life there), I concur with jshepherd's post.  I, too, am an aabb individual member.