title: The impact of a patient education program on directed donations.
abstract: The effect of an informational program in which the benefits and disadvantages of directed donations are discussed directly with the prospective recipient of the blood and/or that patient's family was examined during a 20-month period. Data collected for 27 regional Connecticut hospitals that accept directed donations were compared with similar data for Hartford Hospital, an 885-bed tertiary-care facility. The number of directed-donor units (68) collected by the American Red Cross Blood Services for Hartford Hospital during the study period was comparable to the number (average, 62.3) provided for smaller (301-450 beds) institutions in the state. The percentage that directed-donor units drawn for Hartford Hospital represented of the total number of homologous units provided (0.23%) was less than that for any of the categories of hospitals, by size, in the state. Supplying the patient and/or the patient's family, in a personalized manner, with information concerning the advantages and disadvantages of directed as well as of volunteer donor blood can result in a marked overall reduction in the number of directed donations and also serves to reassure those concerned about blood transfusion.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, Hartford Hospital, Connecticut.
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Silver
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Lachman
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Badon
mesh_terms: D001782:Blood Donors; D001803:Blood Transfusion / Q000592:standards; D001804:Blood Transfusion, Autologous / Q000592:standards; D006801:Humans; D010353:Patient Education as Topic