Section: Community Medicine

Original Research Article KNOWLEDGE, ATTITUDE AND PRACTICE

REGARDING BLOOD DONATION AMONG
UNDERGRADUATE MEDICAL STUDENTS - A CROSS
SECTIONAL STUDY

Received : 05/01/2024
Swetha T1, Nithyalakshmi Jayakumar2, Navin Prashath P 3,
Received in revised form : 12/03/2024 Arunjayakumar Udayakumar4, A Chandiran Joseph5
Accepted : 30/03/2024
1
Associate Professor, Department of Community Medicine, Sri Muthukumaran Medical College
Hospital and Research Institute, Chikkarayapuram, Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India.
Keywords: 2
Professor, Department of Microbiology, Sri Muthukumaran Medical College Hospital and
Knowledge, attitudes, practices,
donation, medical students. Research Institute, Chikkarayapuram, Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India.
3
Consultant, Department of Anesthesiology, KC Hospital, Kavarapalayam, Pattabiram, Avadi,
Corresponding Author: Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India.
4
Dr. Swetha T, Assistant Professor, Sri Muthukumaran Medical College Hospital and Research Institute,
Email: drswethatreddy@gmail.com Chikkarayapuram, Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India.
5
2 Postgraduate, Department of Community Medicine, Sri Muthukumaran Medical College Hospital
DOI: 10.47009/jamp.2024.6.2.110
and Research Institute, Chikkarayapuram, Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India.
Source of Support: Nil,
Conflict of Interest: None declared Abstract
Int J Acad Med Pharm
Background: Blood is a crucial lifesaving component for various medical
2024; 6 (2); 506-510 conditions. Despite increasing awareness of the importance of blood, there is a
wide gap between the demand and supply of blood and its various components.
The aim was to determine the knowledge, attitudes and practices on blood
donation among the medical college students. Materials and Methods: A cross
sectional study was conducted in a medical college in Chennai in December
2019 among the medical students. Universal sampling was done for this study.
The pre-validated questionnaire which had questions regarding the knowledge,
attitudes and practices of blood donation was used for data collection. The data
was analyzed using the SPSS software version 22. Result: Out of 452 students
participated in the study, of which 42.3% were male and 57.7% were female.
The age range was 17-25 years, the mean age being 20.4±1.2 years. Knowledge
of Voluntary Blood Donation: The mean knowledge of participants was 78.8%.
All the participants were aware of their blood groups. Attitude related to blood
donation: 98% study participants felt that blood donation is a noble act and 89%
felt that people should donate blood and were themselves willing to donate
blood. Practice Relating to Blood Donation: Out of the 452 study participants,
only 80 (17.7%) had donated blood so far. 93.8% did not expect any incentives
for the blood donation. Conclusion: The MBBS students had a relatively good
knowledge and a favorable attitude about voluntary blood donation. However,
the prevalence of blood donation is still low among the students. The study
emphasizes the importance of conducting awareness programs and motivating
students regarding voluntary blood donation.

INTRODUCTION and blood products.[2] The WHO theme “Safe blood

starts with me, blood saves lives.” for 2000 AD, also
Blood is a vital component and blood donation is a emphasized on the need for voluntary blood
noble act that can help in saving the humans life. donation. The WHO recommends that for every
Blood transfusion is essential for optimum 1,000 people, a target of 10-20 donors is required to
management of emergency conditions such as severe provide adequate blood supplies. As per government
accidents, shock and resuscitation. Voluntary blood data, 34 per 1,000 eligible people must donate blood
donation is the essential means by which blood can once in a year to address the estimated clinical
be stored and made available for use1. In countries demand. studies say that the gap between the demand
like India there exists a considerable gap between the and supply in India can be explained as 2.5 donations
need and the accessibility of blood.[1] According to per 1000 eligible people.[3] Despite extensive efforts
the World Health Organization (WHO), at least 1% and a number of blood donation programs being
of the country’s population should donate blood conducted, the availability of blood still remains low
voluntarily to meet the basic requirement for blood to meet the increased demand. Majority of blood

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donations in India are done on replacement basis, RESULTS
many a times one has to pay for professional donor
for replacement. However, paid blood donation has A total of 452 students participated in the study, of
been banned in India since 1994.4 Young individuals which 42.2% were male and 57.7% were female. The
including medical students who are healthy, age range was 17-25 years, the mean age being 20.4
enthusiastic and approachable as a group, if recruited years.
they may become future donors and motivators. [3] Assessment of knowledge
Medical college students can serve as a easily In [Table 1], the students’ response to the questions
available pool of voluntary blood donors for the related to the knowledge of blood donation is shown.
attached medical college hospitals and try to solve the The knowledge of blood donation was assessed by
scarcity of blood and blood products. Some of the questions regarding general knowledge about blood
studies involving medical students have stated donation, knowledge of criteria for donor selection.
concern on the minimal level of awareness and poor Knowledge of their own blood groups
voluntary blood donation practices among them. All the participants were aware of their blood groups.
Some studies have also shown inadequate blood The distribution of blood groups as reported by the
donation practice among the students despite participants is depicted as pie diagram. The most
relatively good knowledge and favorable attitude common blood group among the participants was O
toward voluntary blood donation. Thus, there is a (39%), B (33%), A (20%).
need to explore the different factors that can
contribute toward voluntary blood donation.[4,5] After
a detailed review of the existing literature, we wanted
to study the knowledge, attitudes and practices of
blood donation among medical students at our
medical college.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

The study was conducted among undergraduate
medical students of Sri Muthukumaran Medical
College Hospital and Research Institute Chennai, Figure 1: Distribution of blood groups among study
Tamil Nadu, in the month of December 2019. It was participants
a cross sectional, observational study. A total of 550
students were enrolled by universal sampling Majority of the students answered correctly for the
method. Those who refused to participate and those questions related to minimum age, minimum
who could not be contacted during the data collection hemoglobin (Hb), minimum weight, minimum time
were excluded from the study. A total of 452 students interval between the donations, universal donor, and
responded for the study. universal recipient group. About 55% of the
The purpose and nature of the study was explained to participants answered right for the questions related
all students who were part of the study, and an to the minimum interval between two blood
informed consent for participation was taken. A donations and volume of blood collected at each
pretested structured questionnaire was used for data blood donation and regarding transfer of infections
collection. Basic information such as by receiving blood.
sociodemographic data and information regarding Attitude towards blood donation
the knowledge, attitude and practice of blood The students’ responses for the questions related to
donation was collected using the same questionnaire. attitudes towards blood donation are depicted in table
After the collection of the baseline information, a 2. The students showed an overall favorable attitude.
brief interactive awareness session through 98% of the participants agreed that blood donation is
PowerPoint presentation addressing voluntary blood a noble act. About 90% of the students said that they
donation, was conducted for the participants. The are ready to donate blood when need arises. 92% felt
participants anonymously responded to the items on the importance of screening blood before donation.
the questionnaire. Data analyzed using SPSS version Majority did not expect incentives for blood donation
22. The data collected was entered using SPSS (93.8%).
software version 22 and analyzed using frequency, Practices relating to blood donation
mean and percentage. Chi-square test was used for Out of the 452 study participants, only 17.7% had
testing the significance between the proportions. donated blood so far. Of these, 9.5% students had
Consent and Ethical Issues: The approval of donated blood only once, 5.8% had donated twice
Institutional Ethics Committee was taken before and 3.1% donated more than twice. 19% students
starting the study. were voluntary blood donors, 4.4% donated blood to
friend/relative in need. Out of those who donated
22.1% felt happy about the donation. Only 7.5% of

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International Journal of Academic Medicine and Pharmacy (www.academicmed.org)
ISSN (O): 2687-5365; ISSN (P): 2753-6556
the students received the blood transfusion for This study found that blood donation knowledge is
various reasons. significantly associated with age. In particular
Barriers for blood donation students aged v ≥21 years had adequate knowledge
Majority expressed the Main reason for not donating and positive attitude on blood donation than the
blood was no one ever being asked for donation and younger age group. Our study shows that age and sex
parents did not allow for the donation. Various reason had a significant association with attitude about blood
stated by non donors for not donating blood is given donation. Compared to men female had more
in [Table 3]. negative attitude towards donation of blood.
Association between sociodemographic variables
and blood donation

Table 1: Responses of students to questions on knowledge about blood donation

S/No Questions Correct responses(%)
1 Knowledge of own blood group 100
2 The minimum age required for blood donation 99.6
3 The minimum weight required for blood donation 70.4
4 The minimum Hb needed for blood donation in women 73.5
5 The minimum Hb needed for blood donation in men 65.5
6 Normal amount of blood present in the human body 90.3
7 Minimum time interval between two blood donations 60.6
8 Volume of blood that is usually collected at each donation 53.5
9 The universal blood donor group 97.8
10 The universal recipient blood group 97.3
11 World blood donation day 78.3
12 Can a person be infected by receiving blood transfusion 59.3

Table 2: Responses of students to questions on attitude about blood donation

S/No Attitude Yes (%) No (%) Not sure (%)
1. Do u think blood donation is a noble act? 98.2 1.8 -
2. Would you like to donate blood in future? 89.4% 2.2. 8.4
3. Do you think one can contract infections while donating blood? 59.3 25.2 15.5
4. Is screening of blood necessary before blood donation? 92.2 2.2 5.6
5. Blood will be misused by blood bank 11.3 64.1 24.6
6. Become anemic after blood donation 25 59.8 15.2
7. Immunity will be reduced after donation 15 68.7 16.3
8. Will encourage family members to donate blood 82.2 3.3 14.5
9. Receiving blood from unknown person/ source is against religion 2.2 90.4 7.4
10. Blood donation is against our religious practice 3.5 92 4.5
11. expect any reward for blood donation 3.6 93.8 2.8
12. Is blood bank a safe source for blood? 60.4 28 11.6

Table 3: Barriers for blood donation

S/No Responses No of responds
1 No one ever asked 158 (35)
2 Not interested 16 (3.6)
3 Don’t know where to donate 42 (9.3)
4 I am afraid 16 (3.5)
5 It makes me sick/anemic 40 (8.8)
6 Parents did not allow 58 (12.8)
7 Risk of acquiring infection 42 (9.9)

Table 4: Association between sociodemographic variables and blood donation

Sociodemographic Knowledge P Value Attitude P value
Variables Adequate Inadequate Adequate Inadequate
N (%) N (%) N (%) N (%)
Age (years) < 21 88(36.3) 110(51.7) 0.001 92(35.1) 106(55.3) 0.005
≥21 155(63.7) 102(48.3) 174(65.9) 86(44.7)
Sex Male 106(43.6) 85(40) 0.426 121(46) 70(36.1) 0.029
Female 135(56.4) 126(60) 145(54) 116(63.9)

DISCUSSION previous study by Niranjan et al,[4] and Nandan et

al.[5]
The current study was conducted to assess the Being aware of one’s own blood group is important
medical students’ knowledge, attitudes and practices because quick arrangement of blood will be easy in
on blood donation. We observed considerably good emergency situation. In our study, all the students
knowledge among the students regarding blood were aware of their blood groups. Similarly high
donation. The current findings are in accordance with level of awareness (95.7%) regarding blood groups

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has been reported by Chauhan et al,[6] and Devi et students had donated blood so far. Of these, 9.5%
al.[7] The reasons for this high level of awareness students had donated blood at least once. The
regarding their own blood may be due to students majority of the medical students (93.8%) in our study
were asked to fill the information in schools and were of the opinion that no incentives should be
college application form regarding personal details offered for blood donation. These findings are
which includes blood groups. This finding highlights supported by Rizwan et al,[12] where 20.8% donated
the role and responsibility of the teaching institutions blood in their lifetime and 86.8% did not expect any
in imparting knowledge and positive attitude for incentives.
blood donation. Risk of acquiring infections, no one ever being
The most common blood group in the present study approached for blood donation, parents disapproval,
was O (39%) followed by B (33%), A (20%) and AB no knowledge about where to donate the blood and
(8%). Our findings are in agreement with a study by fear of ill health were the reasons for not donating
Chauhan et al.6 Giri et al. in Maharashtra.[9] blood which is backed by the findings of other works
In the present study, more than half of the medical by hozain et al.[15] In a study by Kumari and Raina,
students answered correctly for the question on the main reasons reported for not donating blood are
minimum Hb needed for donation and the time fear of needle stick injury, the very sight of blood,
interval between two donations. The present scared of adverse effects, disagreement of the family
observation is similar to that of an earlier study, members, and never being asked for.[10]
where more than half of the students answered The prevalence of blood donors in this study
correctly in a study done in Jammu.[10] In another was17.7%. Similar findings have been reported in
study by Alsalmi et al. less than half of the students studies by Kumari and Raina et al. (13.81%) 16 and
knew the time interval between two donations.[11] Chauhan et al. (22.9%).4 Our study is one more study
Half of the study population of the present study had that have reported a low prevalence of blood donation
a fair knowledge about the volume of the blood (17.7%) in spite of good overall knowledge and
collected in one donation. This observation also is favourable attitude.
similar to the earlier studies Niranjan et al., 4n Through this study it was found out that age had a
Chauhan et al,[6] whereas one of the studies done in significant association with both knowledge and
Saudi Arabia mentions only 35.2% knew the correct attitude towards blood donation, in particular those
volume of blood collected.[12] Good number of the ≥21 years. This might be due to the fact that the
study participants replied correctly for the minimum individuals get matured as they age and feel more
age limit and minimum weight for blood donation. responsible towards the society. More access to the
The current findings are in contrast with the earlier information makes the person feel safety and
study findings, where about 37.3% of the MBBS confident and may feel safe to donate the blood. This
students answered correctly for the age limit of the finding was supported by Govindasamy V et al. [17]
donors.[13] Females have comparatively more negative attitude
Most of the participants (97.8%) had good for blood donation may be attributed to anaemic
knowledge on universal donor and recipient blood status.
group. A similar observation was made in a study by Poor practices in spite of having a good knowledge
Niranjan et al. where the universal recipient blood and favourable attitudes observed by the present and
group was known by majority of the higher education former studies highlight the importance of
institution participants, very few of them had the conducting awareness programs, motivational talks.
knowledge of universal donor group.[4] The new medical education curriculum emphasizes
The present study outcome shown a positive attitude upon having practical knowledge, which may be
of the students towards blood donation. 98% agreed accomplished by implementing educational
that blood donation is a good practice. In a study on programs on blood donation. Blood donation camps
the students of different colleges by Amatya M et may be conducted at the institutional levels on a
al,[14] says 82.5% of the participants agreed that blood regular basis and encourage the students to
donation as a noble act. participate and celebrate the world blood donation
A high proportion of students (89.4%) were reported day which falls on June 14th. The students may also
to have expressed their intent to donate blood in be given suitable guidance to approach the
future. The present observation is supported by one institutional blood bank and register their names for
of the earlier documented works where about 91% of blood donation so that they can be approached in
the participants agreed that blood donation is a good times of emergency and whenever needed.
practice and were willing to donate blood Uma et
al,[6] reported a need for creation of opportunities to CONCLUSION
donate blood by holding frequent blood donation
camps and to be well informed about blood donation, This study emphasizes that the study population has
as the motivating factors for the recruitment of more relatively good knowledge and a favourable attitude
donors.[7] about voluntary blood donation. However, the
Despite having a considerable good knowledge and prevalence of blood donation among the medical
willingness to donate blood, the practices were not students is still low. This recommends of holding
satisfactory among our participants. only 17.7% of

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ISSN (O): 2687-5365; ISSN (P): 2753-6556
regular continues medical educations, seminars and among medical students of PDU medical college Rajkot. Int J
Curr Res 2014;6:6839 41.
motivational activities for medical students to bridge
9. Giri PA, Yadav S, Parhar GS, Phalke DB. Frequency of ABO
the gap in knowledge, identify and remove and rhesus blood groups: A study from a rural tertiary care
misconceptions, and motivate and guide them for teaching hospital in India. Int J Biol Med Res 2011;2:988 90.
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(KAP) regarding voluntary non-remunerated blood donation
(VNRBD) among the students at colleges of Jammu, India. Int
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