Donor Care Service for Deferred Donors due to Anemia or Low Hemoglobin in National Blood Center, Thai Red Cross Society

Abstract

This cross sectional study was conducted with the aim of identifying the characteristics of anemic donors and their satisfaction with donor care service in National Blood Center, Thai Red Cross Society (NBC/TRCS) and its related factors. Data based on a self-administered questionnaire was collected from 382 deferred donors due to anemia who received the blood donor care service from 1^st February to 4^th March 2011. The result showed anemia was more prevalent among female group (87.2%) than male group and most affected age group among female and male was from 25-44 (61.5%). Most of the respondents had visited the donor care service for the first time (83%). The study revealed that 76.4% of the respondents expressed “high satisfaction” with the service. Almost all of the respondents showed positive perception about the donor care service and accessibility, at the rate of 97.9% and 95.8% respectively. Low level of satisfaction was observed mainly in relation to “space of service room”, “public awareness of the service”, “distance to reach the service” and “cost to reach the service”. Chi-square and logistic regression analysis revealed that age, employment state, perception about service effectiveness and satisfaction with other services in NBC were associated with satisfaction level of the donor care service. The age group between 25-44 years was more likely to be satisfied with donor care service than the other two age groups (<24 years and >45 years) (p=0.045). The service clients who had jobs were more likely to be satisfied with donor care service than those who were student or did not have jobs (p=0.012). The factors significantly related to the satisfaction were perception about the accessibility and satisfaction with other services of NBC (p<0.05). Based on the finding of this study, it is recommended to develop the service further as an essential part of national blood donor retention program and explore possibility to expand the service in the way of protecting and expanding current pool of potential blood donors who are deferred due to anemia or other conditions.