Assessment of Knowledge, Attitude and Practice (Kap) of Blood Donation Among MBBS Students of a Medical College in Kollam, Kerala

Abstract

BACKGROUND:Blood transfusion is a very crucial component to manage patients suffering from various medical conditions. Voluntary blood donors are the need of the hour. There is a need to spread awareness among general population and students about blood donation to maintain a regular blood supply. Young medical students can serve as best example to take a lead in this noble cause. OBJECTIVE: To assess the Knowledge, Attitude and Practice (KAP) of Blood Donation among 1 st and 2 nd year MBBS students of a Medical College. MATERIAL AND METHODS:The cross sectional study was conducted in a medical college in Kollam district of Kerala in September 2013 among all 1 st and 2 nd year medical students. A separate Health awareness session was organized. Data was collected and analyzed with the Statistical Package of Social Sciences (SPSS) 12. RESULTS AND OBSERVATIONS: Not a single participant answered all knowledge questions correctly. Only 35% had adequate knowledge. The gender has no significant association with knowledge about blood donation. 90% of the respondents had a positive attitude about blood donation. Religion only plays a minor role in their decision to donate blood. Only 10% actually donated blood. 57% students gave blood to a needy relative. The most common reason for not donating blood was having no opportunity. There is a significant association between 2 nd year students and blood donation. After awareness session, the overall willingness to donate blood increased from 89.3% to 97.1%. CONCLUSION: Only one third of students have adequate knowledge level regarding blood donation. Only few among them have donated blood. Majority of them intend to donate blood in future. Information, Education and Communication (IEC) activities should be increased and regular seminars and classes should be conducted to increase awareness among medical students for encouraging them to donate blood voluntarily.

A study of knowledge, attitude and practice of voluntary blood donation among interns of a municipal medical college

“…11,13,18 Further the study by Chopra D et al and Ahmad Nadeem Aslani et al also emphasized that 49.8% and 45% of the medical professionals had correct knowledge about the interval between two blood donations respectively. 7,8 But our study reported higher proportion of interns having the correct knowledge about the interval.…”

“…Various studies have been conducted in general population and health professionals, but very few studies are conducted on young doctors. [6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18] So, this study was conducted to determine the knowledge and attitude about donor eligibility, safety and prevailing practices pertaining to voluntary blood donation among interns.…”

“…The commonest reason for not donating blood was being medically unfit for blood donation (69.0%), fear of weakness (10.3%), No request for blood (10.3%), and not getting permission from parents(6.90%) and fear of pain (3.5%). 7,9,13,15 This difference in knowledge is varied because the level of educational attainment of the different types of health professionals the above studies have included.…”

Gender based knowledge, attitude and practice study about blood donation among medical students in a sub-Himalayan state

“…Similar results were reported by Aslami AN et al thus showing that religion hardly plays any role in donors decision to donate blood. 12 Foremost reasons in the present study for not donating blood were occurrence of anaemia followed by objections from family. Meinia SK et al reported fear of needle, anemia occurrence after blood donation and objection from family members as the reasons for not donating blood among the respondents.…”

“…90.6% of the respondents knew about the suitable age for blood donation which was almost in line with the rates reported by Chopra et al (90%) and Aslami AN et al (85%). 11,12 Almost 93% of the respondents knew about the interval between two blood donations. A slightly lower rate to the tune of 80% and 76% in this regard were reported by Agravat Amit et al and Meinia SK et al respectively.…”