A study to assess the knowledge, attitude and practice regarding blood donation among adults attending the medical out-patient department in a tertiary care hospital, Chennai

Abstract

Background: Scarcity of blood and blood products is frequently encountered in health care institutions. Blood donation is a fundamental and a requisite part of any nation's health care delivery system for a lifesaving intervention. In all parts of the world the need for blood and blood products is rising. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), at least 1% of the nation's population should donate blood voluntarily to meet the basic requirement for blood and blood products.
Objectives
 To assess the knowledge, attitude, practice regarding blood donation among adults attending the medical out-patient department.
 To identify the factors associated with blood donation.
Methods
A cross sectional study was carried out in ESIC Medical College and Hospital. Individuals aged 18-60 years was taken into the study with a study period of 3-6 months. Consecutive, Non-Probability Sampling Technique was performed from the General Medicine OPD. A semi structured questionnaire was employed as a data collection tool in the form of Google Sheets due to the pandemic situation. Multiple logistic regression analysis was used to examine association between the independent variables and the dependent variables. The data was analyzed by using SPSS software.
Results: Among our study subjects, 45% of them had good knowledge on blood donation and 44% of our subjects had a correct attitude towards blood donation. Only 33.3% of them had good practices towards blood donation. The most common reason quoted for not donating blood was that they were more bothered about their own health which by donating blood would lead on to some health problems.
Conclusion: The present study shows an average prevalence of knowledge and attitude among the study subjects whereas when it comes to practice it was found to be less. There should be a regularly scheduled awareness creation and voluntary blood donation campaigns organized at the community level.