ORBCoN 2025–26: A Year in Review
Tracy Cameron, MLT, Regional Manager ORBCoN NE
In fiscal year (FY) 2025–26, ORBCoN continued to advance initiatives that support appropriate blood utilization, education, inventory management, communication, and patient safety across Ontario. Highlights of key projects under each strategic goal are featured below.
Goal 1: Utilization Improvements
- Strengthening Immune Globulin (IG) Stewardship
- Ontario is moving forward to strengthen immune globulin (IG) stewardship through provincial collaboration, clinical engagement, and planning for future system enhancements.
- Improving Access to Provincial Data
- Work also continued to advance a provincial transfusion data strategy, including the development of recommendations to support standardized data collection, reporting, and evidence-based decision-making across the province.
Goal 2: Educational Resources and Events
- Delivering Education to Thousands of Healthcare Professionals
- In 2025-26 FY, a range of educational resources were developed or reviewed to strengthen transfusion medicine knowledge and regulatory compliance thereby promoting safe patient care across Ontario. Enhancements included a new Health Canada Blood Regulations competency module under the Tech Assess, development of transporting blood internally training resources, and the creation of an eLearning module to support nursing and laboratory staff with the reconstitution of Prothrombin Complex Concentrate (PCC) and Fibrinogen Concentrate (FC). In addition, ORBCoN has partnered with BORN to help support provincial rollout of the fetal RHD screening and alloimmunized fetal blood group genotype testing.
- ORBCoN Events in Ontario
- Events that were held in 2025-26 FY included the Annual Transfusion Medicine Education Symposium Web Conference, Provincial Transfusion Medicine Symposium, Golden Horseshoe Education supporting Transfusionists (GHEST), three (3) Transfusionists Talks webinars and the Transfusion Boot Camp for Nurses. Nine (9) monthly Transfusion Medicine Rounds were facilitated by ORBCoN in collaboration with the University of Toronto for the academic year (September-June). Combined, these events attracted over 3,000 participants (see figure 1).
Goal 3: Inventory Management Improvements
- Enhancing Provincial Redistribution
- Red cell (RBC) outdate percentages remain very low (see figure 2), and redistribution of near-to-expiry components and products increased by approximately 33% compared to the previous year provincially.
- Low RBC outdates are indicative of good inventory management stewardship, and redistribution efforts demonstrate a proactive approach to the prevention of component and product expiry. ORBCoN continued to promote effective inventory management processes including the redistribution of blood components and products where applicable.
- Guidance on Blood Shortages in Ontario
- The current contingency plan for shortages of labile blood components outlines the provincial response to a blood shortage and, together with the toolkit, provides hospitals with guidance on managing blood shortages in Ontario.
Goal 4: Communication
- Growing Stakeholder Engagement
- ORBCoN broadened its outreach and engagement through newsletters, site visits, social media, and website enhancements. The ORBCoN Report newsletter grew to more than 1,000 subscribers, keeping stakeholders informed of important developments in transfusion medicine.
- Expanding Digital Reach
The Transfusion Ontario website attracted approximately 84,000 users in 2025, a 16.7% increase over the previous year. ORBCoN also continued to support thousands of learners through its eLearning platforms and online educational tools.
Goal 5: Quality and Safety
- Launching the Massive Hemorrhage Quality Metrics Portal
- A major milestone this year was the provincial launch of the Massive Hemorrhage Protocol (MHP) Quality Metrics Portal. The dashboard (see figure 3) enables participating hospitals to analyze performance indicators, identify improvement opportunities, and strengthen the care of a patient who has undergone a massive hemorrhage.
Through these initiatives, ORBCoN continues to enrich stewardship, education, collaboration, and patient safety while supporting Ontario hospitals with the tools, data, and resources to deliver high-quality transfusion medicine services.
ORBCoN would like to thank all our stakeholders and collaborators for their ongoing support in developing, implementing and reviewing our resources that help ensure safe transfusions across Ontario. We do our work in support of our vision of ensuring appropriate and safe transfusion practices for every Ontarian, every time.