Rhesus factor correspondence course

Technical file

Type of innovation: Service
Scope: Training
Innovation leader: Grifols i Lucas, Josep Antoni
Year: 1953
Period: 1909-1971
Geographical scope: Spain
Economic impact: Low
Level of innovation: Evolutionary
Patent: No
Interdisciplinary connections: -

One of the many results of Josep Antoni Grifols i Lucas's restless energy was the groundbreaking correspondence course he launched in February 1953. With the participation of 98 specialists in hematology and hemotherapy from all over Spain, the project was heralded as an outstanding success in the profession.

The subject of the course was the Rh or Rhesus factor. Due to its importance in determining the compatibility of blood types, it had become important for doctors to understand Rh and how to test for it. The Rh factor had been discovered in 1940 by the Austrian scientists Landsteiner and Wiener, whose work was a major step forward in improving the safety of blood transfusions.
 

Disseminating essential knowledge

Whether someone is Rh positive or Rh negative is determined by the presence or absence of the D antigen in the blood. Transfusing blood from a Rh-positive donor to a Rh-negative patient (or vice versa) induces the formation of antibodies that attack it, binding the blood and clotting it, and thus being a danger to the recipient.

Dr. Grifols' course provided the equipment, as well as the written theory and practice of determining a patient's genotype, and the identification of antibodies via different methods.

This innovation highlights the commitment to sharing and disseminating scientific knowledge, which would find fresh expression two years later with the creation of the bibliographical service called the Hemoteca.