Background: The Belgian Red Cross-Flanders is active both domestically and internationally in several fields: from blood supply to emergency aid. The central thread in our strategic plan is to have evidence-based program. In our field of work, no systematic reviews or evidence-based guidelines are available yet. A rapid review methodology was developed to promote the use of evidencebased in our field of work.

Objectives: To inform about the application of evidence-based practice in an action-oriented organization. We illustrate our methodology with a specific question from the Blood Service, i.e. is it safe to use blood from hemochromatosis patients for blood donations. These patients frequently need bloodlettings for medical reasons.

Methods: We used a rapid review methodology and not a full systematic review. The methods were based on published literature about this type of reviews. One reviewer reviewed a restricted number of using specific search strategy and criteria. Grey literature was excluded. GRADE was used to determine the quality of evidence. An expert panel considered the evidence and formulated recommendations for practice.

Results: Six observational studies were relevant to our question. The strength of the body of evidence was low to very low. The available evidence indicates that blood from hemochromatosis patients, taken during maintenance therapy, comply with quality requirements and is safe to be used for blood transfusion.

Conclusions: To shift from an implementation and execution organization to one which actively sets the trend, the Belgian Red Cross introduced evidence-based practice in its activities. We gave the example of hemochromatosis, because it changed the blood donation procedures. A limitation of the rapid review is that the conclusions are tentative and may be subject to change once a systematic review is available.