Qualification in apheresis

An important function of a professional medical society is to enable consistent and high quality patient care. One way of doing this is to provide practitioners the opportunity to demonstrate that they are qualified to provide patient care via a given modality through an examination process. This has always been an important function for ASFA, and remains a high priority of the current ASFA leadership. In December 2009, the American Society for Clinical Pathology (ASCP) terminated the Hemapheresis Practitioner (HP, ASCP) and Apheresis Technologist (AT, ASCP) certification programs because the annual number of examinees was insufficient to maintain the validity of the exam questions. Since that time, in response to continued expressions of interest and demand on the part of our members, the ASFA leadership has worked to restore opportunities for our members to achieve an internationally recognized credential in apheresis. I am excited to say that in January of this year, as the result of the year-long effort of a special committee of ASFA members in collaboration with ASCP staff, a new credential became available: Qualification in Apheresis (QIA). The QIA is an exciting opportunity for apheresis professionals to obtain recognition in our field. This exam consists of 50 multiple choice questions related to the practice of apheresis. After successfully applying through ASCP, examinees can access the examination online. Therefore, there is no need to go to a dedicated testing center in order to write the examination. Bearers of the QIA credential are identified as competent and proficient in apheresis. There are 6 routes for eligibility to sit for the QIA. These are: