Raza
@transfusion.health
🩸Physician + Researcher @UToronto. Medical decision-making, data science (stats, AI), films, and rock climbing #TMSky #Hemesky
In medical science, we do a terrible job of enabling non-physicians to do healthcare research There is no notion of protected research time, specific-grant funds, or recruiting their perspectives in the things we write Meanwhile non-physicians vastly outnumber physicians in healthcare provision
Quote of the morning from our AI workshop: if all you can do is prompt AI, then AI *will* take your job. @transfusion.health #cstm2026scmt #transusionmedicine #AIinmedicine
I miss Mart Janssen. A brilliant data scientist and wonderful human. I still read his papers and miss him.
Today I discovered Bradley-Terry, a very cool way to preserve information while analyzing data from multiple pairwise comparisons. I naively used to think multinomial regression would work here! #stats en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bradley...
Bradley–Terry model - Wikipedia
en.wikipedia.org
Survival analysis is among the most beautiful areas of biostats. As a clinician I am blown away by the ingenuity of concepts such as partial likelihoods, martingales, subdistributional hazards, transformation models. How many lives have been saved because we had the right tools for the job!? #stats
Over-optimism for AI comes partly from the coincidence that the people developing it (coders) happen to perform the economic task it is the most adept at (coding). This creates a very strong self-reinforcing loop of hype and (imo) naive over-extrapolation of capabilities to other domains
I find 'alpha spending' to be an incredibly awkward concept. How many hypotheses can I test? At what point does it stop being kosher? How much do I need to correct for multiple testing? How many tests can I run and how many I should just never test again? Is pre-specification the only answer? #stats
One of the best pieces of advice I got as a doctor in training was to share my uncertainty and transparently lay out my thought process with patients. It goes against conventional wisdom that one may appear incompetent, unconfident, or indecisive. I've yet to meet a patient who didn't like it #meded
If you have a statistician, ML engineer, or some similar methods expert on your project, give them commensurately high author line credit. They usually contribute far more and consequentially to studies than most other authors, yet often end up low middle-author or sometimes left off entirely #stats
#ThePitt has been widely appraised for uncannily accurate dramatizations of emergency medicine. Pleased to report they've also done a great job with transfusion! www.trasci.com/article/S147... #medsky
“Go with O Pos” - Blood Transfusion During Mass - Casualty in The Pitt
Media depictions of blood transfusion are important because they can motivate blood donation, inform potential recipients, and shape public perceptions of the blood system. [1] Two-thirds of Americans...
trasci.com
Among adults undergoing cardiac surgery at high risk of bleeding and platelet transfusion, cryopreserved platelets did not meet noninferiority for controlling postoperative bleeding and were less effective than liquid-stored platelets. #CCRdownunder ja.ma/4rEC06z
The way the exponential form generalizes so many common, seemingly unrelated distributions (and all the properties you get for free, like sufficiency) has to be one of the most elegant things I’ve learned in #stats, and in general Good reader: brunomaga.github.io/Exponential-...
In the era of evidence-based medicine, why do the similar patient face different treatment strategies at hospitals in the same healthcare system? We analyzed 800k+ admissions at 24 hospitals to examine transfusion practice at teaching and non-teaching hospitals link.springer.com/article/10.1...
Red Cell Transfusion in General Medicine Patients at Teaching and Non-teaching Hospitals: A Retrospective Cohort Analysis - Journal of General Internal Medicine
Background Red blood cell transfusion is a well-studied intervention with numerous randomized trials to guide management, yet practice remains highly variable. Objective In this study, we explored hos...
link.springer.com
For those wrestling with applying MINT trial and new AABB RBC MI guidelines results with nuance, I think this figure strikes a good balance for navigating the evidence base at the bedside doi.org/10.1016/j.cj... #transfusion #medsky #cardiology
A lot of people in healthcare are asking, "I want to use AI for [my field]" Higher yield: Let’s make a list of problems worth solving, then discuss if any are best addressed with AI (most won't be) (e.g. studies aren't typically motivated by, "I want to use retrospective cohort design")
I think most people in the ML/AI space understand that, for most real-world uses, LLMs are merely the gateway drug to entice authority figures to invest in resources that will enable more reliable analytical ML systems. Kind of like how the WWF uses pandas to fund saving other endangered species
Profiting from selling unproven therapies to desperate patients is as old as time. Why does it persist? Co-authors discuss antecedents, consequences, and contemporary examples of medical grifting from #transfusion, #hematology, and biotherapies onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...
Confronting medical grifting: Fraudulent and unproven products and interventions in apheresis, transfusion and biotherapies
A basic overview of medical grifting for haematologists with practical guidance in identification and tips for management.
onlinelibrary.wiley.com
Classic teaching is that no post-1 hr increment points to immune refractoriness. One important exception is device-related failures, e.g. plts going into a clotted line, a faulty dialysis/apheresis circuit, an ECMO machine, etc! #hemesky #transfusion
What is the current state of AI/ML research in transfusion medicine? Co-authors Na Li, @ruchika_goel1, et al, have compiled a critical summary of research applying AI/ML in transfusion, including some glossary tables lay readers will helpful Read here: www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning in Transfusion Practice: An Analytical Assessment
Transfusion medicine is vital to healthcare and affects clinical outcomes, patient safety, and system resilience while addressing challenges such as b…
sciencedirect.com
My progression as a reader of scientific literature can be summarized by the first sections I read when I pick up an article High school: Abstract → Conclusion Undergrad: Abstract → Introduction Medical school: Abstract → Discussion Postgraduate: Abstract → Results Now: Abstract → Methods #medsky
Can we improve the way we transfuse plasma? Yes. Big gaps. E.g the ineffectual practice of 1-2 plasma unit dosing is widespread, accounting for 4/5ths of all orders Study from our group now out in @aabbupdates.bsky.social journal onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...
Plasma transfusion practice: A five‐year audit of plasma transfusion at 23 hospitals
Background There is limited high-quality evidence to guide plasma transfusion, and plasma transfusion practices remain variable. Study design and methods This is a retrospective cohort study that ...
onlinelibrary.wiley.com
I believe when working with big data for causal inference, you HAVE to pre-specify your analyses (esp within a project). Do it for yourself, not for reviewers. As Feynman said, “[in science] the first principle is that you must not fool yourself and you are the easiest person to fool” #stats
🧪 ICARUS-ED: Early albumin in sepsis? 📉 Minor gains in numbers, no real outcome benefit 💰 30x the cost vs crystalloids ⚠️ Outcomes > optics 🔍 Full breakdown: https://wp.me/pdrP8b-5oc ❤️ Like 🔁 Repost 🔔 Follow for more #FOAMed #MedX #MedTwitter #MedEd
“This trial adds to the growing body of evidence suggesting no clinically meaningful benefit to albumin administration in the resuscitation of septic patients”
REBEL EM@rebel-em.bsky.social · 11mo ago🧪 ICARUS-ED: Early albumin in sepsis? 📉 Minor gains in numbers, no real outcome benefit 💰 30x the cost vs crystalloids ⚠️ Outcomes > optics 🔍 Full breakdown: https://wp.me/pdrP8b-5oc ❤️ Like 🔁 Repost 🔔 Follow for more #FOAMed #MedX #MedTwitter #MedEd
Why do most hospitals have vending machines full of junk food but not a gym? #medsky
