Why some donors are more willing to donate platelets? ----a qualitative study on 25 regular platelet donors in Guangzhou, China

Abstract

BackgroundSince 1998, China has gradually moved toward voluntary uncompensated blood donation. In some cities, the shortage of platelets has been noticeably severe. Mutual assistance that collects blood from one’s family and social networks is a potential solution. The measure, however, turned out problematic. There are donors who choose to donate platelets over whole blood without compensations, and donate platelets directly to blood banks instead of via the mutual assistance system. This study explores reasons behind their choices qualitatively.MethodsThis report is based on data conducted from January to February 2018; 25 uncompensated regular platelet donors were interviewed. The blood component donation service team in Guangzhou facilitated the data collection process and referred prospectively eligible blood donors to our research team. The interviews took about 30 min to two hours to complete. The qualitative data were analyzed by using the software ATLAS.ti 8.ResultsPlatelet donation takes a much long time than whole blood donation and requires complicated processes. It may also cause discomfort as the other blood components are returned to the body, causing physical and psychological distress due to worries about contamination. Thus, platelet donation tends to involve higher time and psychological costs than whole blood donation. Yet, it has short collection intervals that allows for more frequent donations, and urgency of a severer shortage than whole blood. Hence, regular platelet donors may feel higher significance in platelet donation than whole blood donation, with the belief that more lives would be saved. Some whole blood donors thus switched to become platelet donors. Mutual assistance blood donation was not chosen by the participants for platelet donation, because such donations may exert moral pressure to both the donors and recipients. Furthermore, “acquaintance” has been loosely defined; the system has sometimes been manipulated to become profit-making monetary transactions. It hence failed.ConclusionsThe practice of platelet donation reinforces the understanding that blood donation is a gift giving process performed among strangers. A safe and sustainable voluntary blood supply can only be secured in the absence of monetary transactions and moral pressure.

Adverse events associated with donor plateletpheresis: A 10-year experience from Vojvodina, Serbia

“…Nowadays, the use of platelet concentrates as well as the use of apheresis platelet concentrate is increasing because collecting the platelets from a single donor improves the chance of a successful transfusion 2,14 . Platelet supply management is not easy due to variable daily demand and short shelf life.…”

“…Plateletpheresis has a lower incidence of adverse events compared to whole blood donation, which can be explained by the longer lasting donor preparation 14 . Additionaly, platelet donors are selected not only on the basis of general criteria for whole blood donation, but also on the basis of specially defined criteria for plateletpheresis.…”

Plateletpheresis: A Donors Perspective

“…13,14 Although reasonably safe, the apheresis procedure is also relatively cumbersome for donors. 15,16 In our present study, we collected the data from the platelet-pheresis donors to record their experiences and to know the donor's perspective regarding the time in donation procedure, vasovagal reactions, vascular injuries, citrate toxicity, pain at the venipuncture site, allergic reactions, willingness for future blood donation and overall experience of plateletpheresis.…”

Voluntary blood donation preferences in China: A discrete choice experiment among experienced and inexperienced donors

“…The total volume of blood donated in 2022 was 27.6 million units, with an average annual growth rate of 14.5% [8,9], and the number of blood donors in 2022 exceeded 16 million, with an average annual growth rate of the number of blood donors of 16.3 percent [8,9]. To date, approximately 453 blood stations have been constructed nationwide [9], and the level of blood security has greatly improved [10][11][12][13][14][15][16].…”