Donor disclosure – a donor's right and blood bank's responsibility

Abstract

SUMMARY Informing blood donors about their reactive test results of viral transfusion transmissible infections (TTI) is an important aspect of donor care. Rotary Bangalore TTK Blood Bank offers counseling and referrals to donors to enable them to avail of timely treatment options. Recognizing that donor disclosure is an important public health issue that especially impacts blood safety, we started a program for donor disclosure, counseling and referrals. The number of enzyme‐linked immunosorbent assay reactive units in our blood bank in 2007 and 2008 were 0.78% [hepatitis B virus (HBV)], 0.12% [human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)], 0.18% [hepatitis C virus (HCV)], and 0.73% (HBV), 0.16% (HIV) and 0.18% (HCV), respectively. The reactive donors were informed of their test results and called for counseling. Overall, 41.18% and 48.17% of HBV reactive donors attended counseling in 2007 and 2008, respectively. Only 11.11% and 16.22% of HIV reactive donors attending counseling in 2007 and 2008, respectively. The HCV reactive donors who attended counseling were 14.63% for both years. All reactive donors who attended counseling were referred to gastroenterologist or physician for confirmatory testing and further management. This study describes our experiences in counseling donors who were enzyme‐linked immunosorbent assay reactive for viral TTI, and challenges faced in implementing the donor disclosure program in a resource‐limited environment.

Donor notification: Streamlining the existing enigmatic process: An experience from a tertiary care hospital in central Delhi, India

“…Moreover, they can raise their anxiety and can be reassured by the counsellor to visit blood bank at the earliest. When compared to other studies from India which were conducted for a period of 1-2 years, we had similar and/or higher response rate than others in the second phase of our study period [7,8].…”

Screening Donated Blood for Transfusion Transmitted Infections by Serology along with NAT and Response Rate to Notification of Reactive Results: An Indian Experience

“…In another study by Agarwal et al involving 416 reactive donors, only 249 (59.8%) donors turned to transfusion facility and attended counseling after receipt of their reactive status [ 21 ]. The counseling success rate at large blood center in southern India was 41.18%, 11.11%, and 14.63% for HBV, HIV, and HCV, respectively [ 22 ]. Donor response rate in our study was low as compared to other studies from the country.…”

Donor notification and response rate of sero-reactive blood donors: a challenge and long way to go

“…Reactive donors are intimated telephonically and by post for one to one counseling and repeat sampling. 4 Response rate to notification is often poor. Previous studies show that donors who were notified regarding their results neither responded at all nor followed up for the counseling and some of them continue to donate blood despite being notified.…”