Protect recipients from adverse effects of transfusion
Donors with occupations where delayed fainting would be hazardous to themselves or others must only donate when going off-duty.
Hazardous hobbies should not be undertaken on the day of donation.
All serious adverse events of donation must be reported to SHOT / MHRA.
All donors should give informed consent. They must be informed of common risks:
Dizziness and fainting
Nerve injury
Haematoma formation
For donors of components by apheresis:
Citrate toxicity (metabolic acidosis, hypocalcaemia, hypokalaemia or hypomagnesaesmia leading to depressed myocardial function, arrhythmias, seizures or coagulopathy)
Chilling on reinfusion
Red cell loss if the procedure has to be aborted or it becomes unsafe to return red cells
Information which should be given to prospective donors:
Educational materials about the blood donation procedure
Reasons for requiring a medical history
If deferred, the reason why
Information regarding personal data protection
For autologous donations:
That autologous donation may be insufficient to cover the transfusion requirement
That any unused autologous products will be discarded and not transfused to other patients
The need to inform the blood donation centre if any subsequent event develops that might affect component safety (any illness that develops within 14 days of transfusion).
The obligation of the donation centre to inform the patient if any abnormalities of significance to their health is detected
That donations will be tested for microorganisms as specified below
Donor age requirements:
First-time donors: age 17 – 60.
Repeat donors: 17 – 66.
Donor weight requirements:
50kg for regular donations
70kg for double red cell donations
For women less than 65kg, the estimated blood volume should be calculated, and no more than 15% donated at any one time
Donation frequency:
Whole blood:
Males: every 3 months (maximum 4 donations a year)
Females: every 4 months (maximum 3 donations a year)
Platelets and plasma by apheresis:
Platelets: maximum of 24 donations a year, with a minimum interval of 2 weeks between each donation
Plasma: maximum of 24 donations a year, with a maximum of 2.4L per month and 15L per year.
Double red cell donation: only allowed once every 6 months
May allow a shorter interval if tests can prove donor is iron replete
Donation volumes:
Whole blood: at least 450mL±10% is required; generally 470-475mL is collected
Collection volume must never exceed >15% of the estimated blood volume
The most efficient way of measuring collection volumes is by weight: 1ml of blood weighs 1.06g
For apheresis:
The extracorporeal volume should never exceed 15% of the total blood volume (excluding volume of anticoagulant). The ECV volume calculation should take into account:
Weight
Haematocrit
Type of apheresis procedure
Haemoglobin screening:
Males: 135g/L
Females: 125g/L
Minimum blood tests:
Initial visit: FBC, serum albumin and total serum protein levels for plasma donors
Platelet count at each visit for platelet donors
For all donors: annual FBC
For plasma donors: annual albumin and total serum protein
Methods to reduce bacterial contamination of blood products:
Arm cleansing
Diversion of first 20ml of donated blood
Screening of platelet components via bacterial culture with a minimum hold period of 36hrs (allows a 7-day shelf life if culture bottles are negative after a minimum 6 hrs of incubation).
Alternatively, two-tests systems where platelets are sampled at 24hrs and 4 days can be employed to extend the shelf-life to 7 days.
Very educative. I would like to add that for prospective blood donors who have not attained the legal age of giving consent, parental or guardian consent should be gotten, and they assent to it.
Very educative. I would like to add that for prospective blood donors who have not attained the legal age of giving consent, parental or guardian consent should be gotten, and they assent to it.