The effect of motivational strategy on voluntary plasma donation, a field trial

BACKGROUND

Plasma protein therapies (PPTs) are a group of medicines extracted from human plasma through fractionation. The manufacture of adequate amounts of PPTs requires a large volume of human plasma. WHO emphasized that whole blood and blood component donations should be voluntary and non-remunerated. So, motivating people to donate plasma is crucial. In this study, we evaluated the impact of social media on motivating blood donors to donate plasma without any compensation and the moderating effects of blood donation history on plasma donation.

METHODS AND MATERIALS

we allocated blood donors (n = 501) to intervention and control groups randomly. Participants in the intervention group got educational and motivational messages through a WhatsApp channel. Then, we followed up all participants for six months and registered the information of the plasma donation during this period.

RESULT

In the intervention group, 6.8% had returned to donate plasma, while this was 2% in the control group (p = 0.016, OR:3.59, 95%CI:1.3-9.89). Among regular blood donors in the intervention group, 17.86% had returned to donate plasma but, no regular donor returned to donate plasma in the control group (p = 0.055). In addition, 10.8% of donors who had academic education in the intervention group returned to donate plasma, although this was 2.54% in the control group (P = 0.0485).

CONCLUSION

Our findings suggest that the educational interventions have more effects on academically educated donors to motivate them to donate plasma.

The impact of COVID-19 pandemic on blood supplies and transfusion services in Eastern Mediterranean Region

Background

Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) has spurred a global health crisis. The safety and supply of blood during this pandemic has been a concern of blood banks and transfusion services as it is expected to adversely affect blood system activities. We aim to assess the situation in the Eastern Mediterranean Region (EMR) during the first months of the pandemic.

Materials and methods

A survey was designed to address blood supply, transfusion demand, and donor management during the coronavirus disease-19 (COVID-19) pandemic. Medical directors of different blood banks were invited to participate.

Results

A total of 16 centers participated with representation from 15/19 countries in the region. In total, 75% were from national blood banks. Most centres had a decrease in the blood supply, ranging from 26–50%. Representatives from 14 countries (93.3%) believed that public fear has contributed to a decrease in donations. Most centres (n = 12, 75%) had a reduction in transfusion demand, while those who did not, reported heavy involvement in treating patients with underlying haemoglobinopathies and haematological malignancies. Half of the centres activated their contingency plans. Four centres had to alter the blood donor eligibility criteria to meet demands. All centres implemented donor deferral criteria in relation to SARS-CoV-2, but were variable in measures to mitigate the risk of donor and staff exposure.

Conclusion

Blood services in the region faced variable degrees of blood shortages. We summarize lessons learnt during this pandemic for the blood banks to consider to plan, assess, and respond proportionately to future similar pandemics.

Chlorhexidine alcohol versus povidone-iodine: The comparative study of skin disinfectants at the blood transfusion centers of Iran

OBJECTIVES

The skin disinfection in the blood donor's arm is a key step to minimize the risk of microbial contamination at blood donation sessions. Current study aimed to compare the efficacy of 2% chlorhexidine gluconate in 70% isopropyl alcohol (CHG/IPA) with povidone-Iodine (PI) at blood transfusion centers (BTCs) of Iran.

MATERIAL AND METHODS

Blood donors were selected to evaluate three commercial CHG/IPA disinfectants (N=300), prior the application at BTCs, and to compare the rate of positive skin cultures between CHG/IPA and PI in 31 BTCs (N=8578). The rate of positivity for PI over a 5-year period was also investigated. After application of a two-step disinfection procedure, the biochemical characteristics were checked in accordance with the conventional bacteriological methods. The Z-test analysis was used to compare the deviation between the positive microbial culture ratios.

RESULT

No donors had a positive culture after disinfection during the evaluation study. There was no difference in the rate of positivity between PI and CHG/IPA after disinfection (P>0.05). The rate of positivity for PI from 2012 to 2017 showed a decreasing trend. The rate of positivity was significantly higher in winter rather than summer (P<0.05).

CONCLUSION

The disinfection efficacy of CHG/IPA was equivalent to that of PI. The 5-year monitoring of PI at BTCs showed that the improvement in the rate of positive skin cultures possibly due to effectiveness of correcting actions.