The International Society of Blood Transfusion (ISBT) Adopts New Edition of “Ethics Code”

发布时间：2018-03-27

In July 2000, ISBT passed “The Ethical Norms on Blood Donation and Transfusion”, which was revised in September 2006. For more than a decade, the document has played an important role in guiding countries to follow ethical standards in blood collection and supply services.

Earlier this year, the ISBT Executive Committee decided to make a major revision of the specification, which was drafted by the ISBT Standing Committee on Ethics and renamed as "Code of ethics relating to transfusion medicine". ISBT collected opinions of members regarding the new version on its official website, and made necessary amendments or instructions. During the ISBT regional conference held in Copenhagen in June 20, 2017, the ISBT General Assembly discussed and adopted the new version of the standard. In September 12, 2017, ISBT officially announced "Code of ethics relating to transfusion medicine" in six language versions, including English and Chinese. The "Code" version of Chinese was translated by Qian Chengrui from Shanghai Blood Center (SBC), reviewed by Kurt Lee (graduate of Johns Hopkins University), proofread by Wang Xun and Meng Yan from SBC, and guided by Prof. Zhu Yongming, Director of WHO Collaborating Center for Blood Transfusion Services (WHOCC-BTSs), and Chairman of Chinese Society of Blood Transfusion (CSBT). From the beginning of the translation to the final release, the Chinese manuscript has gone through 11 drafts of revision.

Zhu Yongming has always made forward-looking efforts to promote exchanges and cooperation between the Chinese transfusion industry and international transfusion community, and to promote the safety of blood transfusion in China and its surrounding areas. Before the new code was formally submitted to the member meeting, he received the draft from ISBT, and arranged for SBC/ WHOCC-BTS’ relevant personnel to carry out the translation and proofreading. He then personally made several major revisions and corrections. In June 20th, after the general meeting, the relevant personnel were also guided to proofread the translated version and handed the final translation to ISBT to release.

The code, which focuses on the core of ethical norms of independence, beneficence, equity, non-injury, and dignity, emphasizes that the decision to make blood transfusions should be based on real clinical needs. The popularization and application of the new standard in the blood collection and blood supply industry will guide and standardize the ethical work of the national blood collection and supply industry, and promote the sustainable development of the industry.

The Chinese version and English version of 'Code of ethics relating to transfusion medicine' please click the link below.

https://www.sbc.org.cn/modules/article/view.article.php?11793

Reported by Sun Jie, Xie Dongfu

Reviewed by Meng Yan

Translated by Zhang Bo

Edited by Kurt Lee