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World Blood Donor Day

World Blood Donor Day

14 June 2024

Every year countries around the world celebrate World Blood Donor Day (WBDD). The event serves to raise awareness of the need for safe blood and blood products and to thank voluntary, unpaid blood donors for their life-saving gifts of blood. On World Blood Donor Day, celebrated on 14 June 2024, WHO, its partners and communities across the world will unite behind the theme: Celebrating 20 years of giving: thank you blood donors! WHO

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Cochrane Library

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Clinical

Donors

Articles

Clinical

Donors

E-books

E-journals

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Articles

Clinical

Patient blood management guideline for adults with critical bleeding
The new guideline recommends major haemorrhage protocols (MHPs) be established as standard of care in all institutions managing patients with critical bleeding. In addition to routine physiological markers, the new guideline recommends temperature, biochemistry and coagulation profiles be measured early and frequently, providing parameters that define critical derangements. Ratio-based MHPs should include no fewer than four units of fresh frozen plasma and one adult unit of platelets for every eight units of red blood cells. In the setting of trauma and obstetric haemorrhage, administration of tranexamic acid within three hours of bleeding onset is recommended. The use of recombinant activated factor VII (rFVIIa) is not recommended. There was insufficient evidence to make recommendations on the use of viscoelastic haemostatic assays or cell salvage as part of MHPs. MJA 28 January 2024

Historic and emerging trends in transfusion medicine: Maintaining relevance as a specialty
Progressive scientific advances continue to impact the field of transfusion medicine (TM). In this commentary, the authors present historical and emerging trends highlighting the evolving nature of this specialty. To remain relevant, TM practitioners must continuously adapt as alternatives to traditional modalities emerge. Developments such as red cell genotyping as an adjunct to traditional serologic phenotyping, the addition of nucleic acid amplification testing to successive refinements in serologic infectious disease marker testing, and the impact of evidence-based medicine on transfusion practice and patient blood management are a part of this tapestry—but these and many more are too numerous to cover in a single commentary. To support this premise, the authors will therefore focus on the development of alternatives and modifications to plasma and the evolving landscape of therapeutic apheresis and cellular therapy. Transfusion 3 November 2023

Quality improvement review of O positive blood in emergency transfusion
The use of O positive blood for emergency transfusion has saved 1103 O negative red cell units with no detriment to patient outcome. There remains potential to optimize use of O positive blood in emergency transfusion and to understand red cell alloimmunization rates in a prospective fashion. Transfusion 12 September 2023

Platelet transfusion in critical care: A new method to analyze transfusion practice based on decision time intervals
Decision time intervals (DTIs) analysis represents a new method to assess transfusion practice that considers both transfusions given and not given, and that analyzes clinical circumstances present when decisions regarding transfusion are made. The method is easily adapted to blood components other than platelet transfusions and is easily extended to other ICU and other hospital settings. Transfusion 22 August 2023

Preferential whole blood transfusion during the early resuscitation period is associated with decreased mortality and transfusion requirements in traumatically injured patients
Preferential whole blood (WB) transfusion compared with a balanced transfusion strategy during the early resuscitative period was associated with a lower 4 and 24-hour mortality, as well as decreased 24-hour transfusion requirements, in trauma patients. Future prospective studies are warranted to determine the optimal use of WB in trauma. Trauma surgery and acute care open 22 April 2024

Transfusion practices in intensive care units: An Australian and New Zealand point prevalence study
Non-red blood cell (RBC) transfusion decisions are often not aligned with guidelines and VHA is commonly available but rarely used to guide transfusions. Better evidence to guide transfusions in ICUs is needed. Critical care and resuscitation 28 November 2023

Estimating waiting time for compatible blood: A Negative Binomial approach
Waiting time underestimation will be reduced significantly by using the Negative Binomial Distribution solution and should be accompanied by improved customer satisfaction. Transfusion 28 May 2024

Opportunities to improve feedback to reduce blood component wastage: Results of a national scheme evaluation
There is scope for enhancing the effectiveness and utility of Blood Stocks Management Scheme (BSMS) feedback reports and hence reducing wastage of blood components. This methodology for evaluation of feedback could be utilized to improve other areas of transfusion practice. Transfusion 20 May 2024

Disease severity in subsequent pregnancies with RhD immunization: A nationwide cohort
Highlights

  • The severity of haemolytic disease of the foetus and newborn (HDFN) increased significantly in the subsequent pregnancy compared with the first immunized pregnancy.
  • Women with antibodies detected late (27th week or later) during the first immunized pregnancy, even before they had ever given birth to an RhD-positive child, or most often before they had ever received anti-D prophylaxis, were most prone to severe disease in a subsequent pregnancy.
  • The risk of severe HDFN in a subsequent pregnancy can be estimated using the moment of antibody detection, antibody characteristics as reflected by antibody-dependent cellular cytotoxicity test results and the severity of HDFN in the first immunized pregnancy.

Vox Sanguinis 21 May 2024

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Donors

Has the frequency of ABO RhD blood groups in Australian blood donors changed as a result of the removal of the variant Creutzfeldt–Jakob disease-based deferral?
Highlights

  • Removal of the UK donor deferral policy increased the number of available donors with RhD-negative blood.
  • The overall prevalence of blood groups within Australia remained consistent with previous findings.
  • UK donors were more likely to be older and female compared with the Australian population.

Vox Sanguinis 7 March 2024

Prevalence of blood donation eligibility in Australia: A population survey
The authors estimate that approximately 10.5 million people (57.3% of 18–74-year-olds) are eligible to donate blood in Australia. Only 14.2% of those eligible at the time of survey reported donating blood within the previous 2 years, indicating a large untapped pool of potentially eligible blood donors. Transfusion 18 July 2023

A scoping review of sociology of voluntary blood donation
Highlights

  • Donor barriers and motivations need to be situated within social, organizational and historical contexts.
  • The meanings of ‘gift’ and ‘altruism’ are shaped by social context.
  • Multidisciplinary research is recommended to address the key challenges of blood donation.

Vox Sanguinis 30 April 2024

Increasing the upper age limit for blood donation: Perspectives from older donors
Most of the older donors agree with the increase of the upper age limit for blood donation, report only few and minor donation-related experiences or complications and are highly motivated to continue their donor career at an older age. Vox Sanguinis 8 April 2024

What influences decisions to donate plasma? A rapid review of the literature
Highlights

  • This rapid review explores what influences people's decision to donate plasma. Most studies focus on existing whole blood donors, examining individual-level factors such as intention, altruism and fear surrounding the donation process.
  • There is little literature on non-whole blood donors or exploring social and cultural factors such as community influences and accessibility for diverse groups.
  • Given that the findings show a lack of research on the influences of ethnicity, socioeconomic status and gender on plasma donation, specifically with non-donors, future studies should explore these factors in more depth.

Vox Sanguinis 20 July 2023

The impact of blood donation deferral strategies on the eligibility of men who have sex with men and other sexual risk behavior in Australia
Changing the deferral criteria and sexual risk evaluation would lead to a higher proportion of GBM being eligible to donate blood. Knowledge of the current gay, bisexual, and other men who have sex with men (GBM) deferral period is very low. Improved education about the current criteria and any future changes are required to improve blood donation rates. Transfusion 13 February 2024

“Okay, I respect this publicity stunt.” A snapshot of public perceptions of an online game-based blood donation campaign
Situating a donation campaign in an established video game provides a novel opportunity to engage young donors. Through capturing public data, we provide a unique snapshot of how an online gaming community perceives and reacts to an independently initiated game-integrated blood donation campaign. This highlights key strengths of the approach as well as identifying potential risks for blood collection agencies. Transfusion 19 March 2024

A randomized controlled trial of post-donation communication materials to increase donor return following a vasovagal reaction
Sending an email addressing common donor concerns regarding Vasovagal reactions (VVRs)  increases whole-blood (WB) donor retention, but additional strategies are needed for the effects to last and to retain plasma donors. Transfusion 26 July 2024

Perceived risk of HIV transmission by blood transfusion among gay, bisexual, and other men who have sex with men (gbMSM) in Australia
This study suggests Australian gbMSM are generally comfortable with answering more detailed questions regarding sexual activity during the assessment to donate, indicating they would do so honestly. gbMSM are knowledgeable about the WP duration, important for their ability to correctly self-assess their HIV risk. However, half of participants incorrectly assessed the transmissibility by blood transfusion from an HIV positive person with an undetectable viral load, suggesting the need for a targeted education campaign. Transfusion 10 June 2023

The impact of social media intervention based on functional motivation on repeat blood donation behavior: A prospective randomized controlled trial study
Social media intervention based on functional motivation can effectively increase the re-donate rate. Understanding, protection, sensation, and values motivations can directly influence the re-donate behavior. Transfusion 15 May 2024

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E-books

This is just a sample of the e-books the library subscribes to – you will need your library login

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E-Journals

This is just a sample of the journals the library subscribes to – you will need your library login

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