Effect of counselling rejected blood donors to seek health care.
The appropriate public health role of a blood bank has not been completely defined. An evaluation of verbal counselling as an incentive for rejected blood donors to seek follow-up medical care was undertaken. Two groups, deferred from donating blood because of low hematocrits, were compared in terms of compliance rate (percentage seeking medical care). The first group, comprising 60 individuals deferred in a traditional manner with either a brief written or verbal statement, had a compliance rate of 25%. In the second group, comprising 61 individuals to whom additional counselling was offered, 79% requested such counselling. A compliance of 60% was found among those counselled, and an overall compliance rate of 54% was noted in the group as a whole. The more than doubling of the compliance rate indicates that a blood bank can effectively encourage deferred donors, most of whom are asymptomatic, to seek health care.
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000367:Age Factors; D000368:Aged; D001771:Blood Banks; D001782:Blood Donors / Q000523:psychology*; D003376:Counseling; D005260:Female; D006400:Hematocrit; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009518:New York; D010342:Patient Acceptance of Health Care; D010349:Patient Compliance; D012380:Role