An Original Approach to Evaluating the Quality of Blood Donor Selection: Checking Donor Questionnaires and Analyzing Donor Deferral Rate

Abstract

Blood donor selection is a cornerstone for blood transfusion safety, designed to safeguard the health of both donors and recipients. In the Service du Sang, Belgian Red Cross, French and German-speaking part of Belgium (SFS), health professionals (HPs) are allowed to interview donors on their own after formal qualification. This qualification is afterward evaluated by means of two complementary quality indicators: monitoring of donor health questionnaires (DHQs) and analysis of donor deferral rate. The study aims to evaluate the degree to which both quality indicators may be useful and appropriate tools to evaluate the quality of blood donor selection. An analysis performed on 2016 data showed that noncompliance detected by means of DHQ monitoring seems to be more frequent in HPs who conduct a low number of interviews compared to all HPs as a group (5.67 vs. 3.23%; p < 0.001). Deferral rates are also higher in HPs with a lower activity compared to HPs who interview more donors (14.80 vs. 13.00%, p < 0.001). Furthermore, statistically differences are observed between the type of blood donation venue in terms of the global deferral rate (for instance fixed site vs. schools: 11.9 vs. 19.5%; p < 0.001), and specific reasons for deferral (such as sexual risk behavior and travel in at-risk areas, the differences being highly significant between each category of blood donation venue; p < 0.001). Providing the HPs with feedback on these findings was an opportunity to draw their attention to some aspects of the selection process in order to improve it.

Donor deferral and return patterns – a South African perspective

“…To our knowledge, this study represents the first large‐scale review of donor deferral and return patterns in the South African setting. We confirmed that almost one in five (17·2%) donors who presented for donation were deferred, which decreased to 15·6% in 2019, but remained higher than published blood donor deferral levels of 12–13% in Western and other developing countries [4–9]. Deferral patterns differed significantly by gender, population group, age, geographical region as well as donor and clinic type; almost half of all deferrals were for Out of Range Hb.…”

“…The World Health Organization (WHO) recommends the collection and regular review of data on donor deferrals by BTS to assess the major causes of deferral, in particular those indications that result in the greatest numbers of donor deferrals and those presenting high risk to patients [1]. While donor deferral rates of 12-13% are comparable between Western [4,5] and developing countries [6][7][8][9], blood donor behaviour patterns and transfusion transmissible infection (TTI) prevalence vary from region to region. It is therefore imperative to gather and analyse country-specific data.…”

Frequency and Causes of Deferral among Blood Donors Presenting to Combined Military Hospital Multan

“…The deferral can be temporary or permanent depending upon the underlying condition. In our study, we aimed to find the frequency and common causes of deferrals among the blood donors [11].…”

<p>Analysis of the most common causes of blood donor deferral in northern Jeddah: a single-center study</p>

“…In addition, at least 13 million donors were deferred due to having the risk of infection that could be transmitted through blood, a preexisting medical disease or anemia 3. Due to this, blood donor selection is a cornerstone for blood transfusion safety, designed to safeguard the health of both donors and recipients 4. Blood donor eligibility is determined by medical interview, based on national guidelines for donor selection 5…”