Training of Tissue Bank Personnel

Abstract

Successful tissue recovery, processing, and distribution involvesmultiskilled teams with a variety of abilities that must be fostered and supported by focused training. Despite the very specialized nature of the work, formal training programs, which assist with the management of the donation organizations and the tissue banks to build quality services for the benefit of all stakeholders, are scarce. This chapter describes a number of international training initiatives that focus on tissue procurement from deceased donors and tissue banking. Tissue banking is a discipline that continues to develop throughout the world. Dissemination of knowledge gained through experience is important because most countries have not yet established requirements regarding specific education and certification for procurement professionals or, in reality, have not addressed the need for technical knowledge of the authorities that regulate and inspect these organizations. Nevertheless, there are a number of successful initiatives that have been developed and remain active to fill these gaps. The following are described in this chapter: the American Association of Tissue Banks (AATB), Transplant Procurement Management (TPM), the Iberoamerican Network/Council of Donation and Transplantation (RCIDT), the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and a number of training initiatives developed within European Union Public Health funded projects. Adequate education in technical, organizational, management, laboratory, and other skills, must be provided to these professionals in order to help them feel comfortable and self-confident in their capacities to develop and improve upon their work. Given the challenges related to constant involvement with distressing (donor) death events, frequent interaction with emotional donor families, and the long hours associated with this type of work, the support afforded by effective training programs for the specialists working in donation and recovery can prevent professional "burn-out." © 2012 Blackwell Publishing Ltd.