Transfusion Camp is an education program that aims to increase transfusion knowledge and best practice by providing high-quality and relevant transfusion medicine (TM) training to postgraduate medical residents and their faculty members in various specialties related to transfusion. It has been recognized as a novel and scalable approach to delivering effective TM education (Lin et al, Transfusion 2019). First established in 2012 as a transfusion medicine education program for postgraduate trainees at the University of Toronto, Canada, Transfusion Camp is now a national program led by faculty at the University of Toronto. It is managed centrally by Canadian Blood Services and delivered nationally through the collaboration of transfusion experts, residency training program administrators and regional partner organizations. Transfusion Camp has been expanded beyond Canada, to the United Kingdom (three medical schools), recently (in 2022) to Rwanda (University of Rwanda, Kigali), and now to Uganda. Since inception, Transfusion Camp has trained over 3,000 postgraduate trainees.
The upcoming Camp (September 2025) in Uganda will initially target post-graduate medical students (SHOs) at Makerere University College of Sciences and Mbarara University of Science and Technology. The camp will be delivered through didactic lectures and problem-based learning seminars. We hope that through adapting evidence-based transfusion guidelines, we can expand knowledge and improve practices in transfusion medicine while creating a safer hospital environment for our patients.
