Rapid establishment of a COVID-19 convalescent plasma program in a regional health care delivery network

Abstract

Background: COVID-19 convalescent plasma (CCP) represents an appealing approach to the treatment of patients with infections due to SARS-CoV-2. We endeavored to quickly establish a sustainable CCP transfusion program for a regional network of health care facilities.

Study design and methods: A regional collaborative group was activated to address the issues necessary to implementing a CCP transfusion program and making the program sustainable. A wide range of health care providers including physicians (critical care, infectious disease, transfusion medicine), nurses, pharmacists, laboratorians, and information technology (IT) specialists were required to make the program a success.

Results: The CCP implementation team initially consisted of four members but quickly grew to a group of nearly 20 participants based on different issues related to program implementation. Overall, six major implementation "themes" were addressed: (a) registration of individual hospitals and principal investigators with a national investigational new drug research protocol; (b) collaboration with a regional blood donor center; (c) targeted recruitment of convalesced donors; (d) IT issues related to all aspects of CCP ordering, distribution, and transfusion; (e) prioritization of patients to receive CCP; and (f) evaluation of CCP products including antibody characteristics and patient response to therapy.

Conclusion: Within 4 weeks of initiation, CCP was successfully transfused at multiple hospitals in our regional health care delivery system. A program infrastructure was established that will make this program sustainable into the future. This approach has broader implications for the success of multi-institutional programs requiring rapid implementation.

FIGURE 1

Patients with confirmed COVID‐19 were evaluated for their suitability to be approached by MVRBC for CCP donation. Patients were not contacted if they were deceased or had severe underlying clinical conditions making them unsuitable donors or were hospital inpatients. The remaining patients were contacted, the majority of whom consented to be approached by MVRBC for plasma donation

FIGURE 2

A screenshot depicting the ordering process for CCP in the Epic electronic health record. Note information concerning the Mayo Clinic IND protocol, links to patient registration and the informed consent form, and the required field for the patient‐specific identification number [Color figure can be viewed at wileyonlinelibrary.com]