KNOWLEDGE, PERCEPTIONS AND PATTERN OF BLOOD DONATION AMONG FACILITY BASED HEALTH CARE PROVIDERS IN IBADAN, NIGERIA

Abstract

The availability of blood is a major public health concern globally because the amount of Wood donated annually falls short of what is required in spite of increased awareness programmes. In Nigeria, there is a dearth of information about the blood donation practices and associated underlying factors among health care providers. This study was designed to determine the knowledge, perceptions and pattern of blood donation among health care providers in public secondary health facilities in Ibadan. The study was a cross-sectional survey. Three hundred and sixty-nine (66.0%) out of 559 health care providers from four {Ring Road hospital (201), Jericho Chest hospital (37), Jericho Nursing home (62) and Jericho General Hospital (69)] that were purposively selected out of six government owned secondary hospitals in Ibadan that were surveyed. The four health facilities rendered services at both general and specialist capacities. A validated semi-structured questionnaire containing a 9-point knowledge scale was used to collect data and analysis was done using descriptive statistics. Seventy-nine per cent of the respondents were females and their mean age was 41.2 ± 9.3 years. Majority (62.4%) were nurses, followed by medical doctors/dentists (10.8%), medical laboratory scientists (10.6%), radiographers (8.6%), pharmacists (5.1%) and physiotherapists (2.6%). The mean knowledge score on blood donation guidelines was 4.9±1.3 out of a maximum of 9 points on a scale of 0-3. The mean knowledge scores by profession were: medical laboratory science (5.4±1.5), nursing (5.0±1.4), medicine/dentistry (4.9±1.5), physiotherapy (4.8±1.1), pharmacy (4.4±0.9) and radiography (4.3±l.3). Only 36.0% could identify correctly the categories of people who could not donate blood. Most (95.5%) had positive attitude while only 24.5% believed that donating blood was time consuming and not beneficial. Most (91.6%) respondents believe that donating blood will help improve our health services. Nineteen per cent had ever donated blood. The beneficiaries included: relations (47.9%), blood bank (33.8%) and patients in their care (18.3%). Forty-two percent would be willing to donate in the future of which 62.4% were willing to be formally registered as donor. Motivations for blood donation as reported by respondents were: revitalization/maintenance of blood levels (77.0%), free blood tests (70.9%) and psychological satisfaction for being able to save life (66.7%). Major factors that could discourage health care providers from donating blood included: fear of complications/contracting a disease (58.3%), lack of time (52.5%) and fear of needles (39.0%). Blood donation practice is low among health care providers possibly resulting from expressed fear of complications in spite of the high level of willingness and above average knowledge of blood donation guidelines as well as positive attitude. Educational and promotional strategies such as advocacy to ensure that safety standards are complied with, peer education and in-service programs should focus on alleviating fear of complications in order to promote the practice of blood donation among health care providers.