International Journal of Physiology
  • Year: 2015
  • Volume: 3
  • Issue: 2

Assessment of Knowledge, Attitude and Practice of Blood Donation among Medical Students in Bangalore Karnataka, India

1Assistant Professor, Dept of Physiology, BGS GIMS, Bangalore

2Senior Resident, Dept of Physiology, JIPMER, Pondicherry

3Assistant Professor, Dept of Transfusion Medicine, JIPMER, Pondicherry

4Assistant Professor, Department of Community Medicine, BGS Global Institute of Medical Sciences, Bangalore

Abstract

Despite a requirement of over 8 million units of blood per year, data regarding awareness and practices of blood donation among students remains inadequate. A study on the knowledge, attitude and practice of blood donation among medical students will help highlight the importance of adopting effective measures to motivate voluntary blood donation among the population.

To assess the knowledge, attitude and practice of blood donation among medical students

Observational, Cross Sectional Study

A cross sectional study conducted, pre tested validated semi structured questionnaire was administered to medical students in Bangalore.

The data was tabulated in Microsoft Excel version 10 and Descriptive statistics was applied using statistical package of social sciences, SPSS version 18. P value of < 0.05 was considered statistically significant.

A total of 140 subjects participated in the study, of which 75(53.6%) were males and 65(46.4%) were females. The mean age in years was 18 years 97(68.8%). 86(63.2%) of the subjects were aware that diseases could be transmitted through blood and 57(40.7%) knew that blood was tested for infective agents before transfusion. 96(71.1%) of the subjects felt they are fit enough to donate blood. Only 15(10.7%) received education on blood donation. Majority answered incorrectly for the use of one unit of donated blood for the number of patients and this difference was found to be statistically significant. Only 25(17.8%) have attitude towards voluntary blood donation, while 6(1.4%) had really donated blood.

study emphasizes that the knowledge, attitude and practices regarding voluntary blood donation is not adequate among first year medical students. Measures have to be taken to raise awareness and abolish the myths and fears linked to voluntary blood donation. The lack of awareness and misconceptions concerning donation may contribute to the lack of initiative for voluntary donation.

Keywords

Blood donation, knowledge, attitude, practice.