Abstract
Background: Blood transfusion is among one of the essential strategies to manage patients suffering from various medical and surgical conditions. Blood for transfusion is obtained by replacement and voluntary donors. There is a great need to create awareness among the population at large and students about blood donation to maintain a regular blood supply. Medical and Paramedical students can be used as best model to lead this initiative.
Objectives: The shortage of blood in India is due to an increase in the demand, with less Practice of Voluntary blood donation and limited number of replacement blood donors. A study on the knowledge, attitude, and the practice may be proven useful in the successful implementation of the blood donation programme.
Materials and Methods: An institution based, cross-sectional survey using a pre-coded self-administered questionnaire was conducted. A total of 135 medical students participated in the survey.
Results: Majority of respondents have adequate knowledge and good attitude; however, majority of them have poor practice. High number of participants agreed about encouraging public about voluntary blood donation. But not a single participant was able to respond to the knowledge part of the questionnaire with 100% accuracy.19.3% participants don’t know their own blood group.
Conclusion: Most of the students have good knowledge and attitude but poor practice towards blood donation. Information, Education and Communication (IEC) activities should be increased and regular seminars should be conducted to increase awareness among medical students for encouraging them to donate blood voluntarily and to motivate others to do so.
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Corresponding Author
Imran A. Khan
Second year Resident, Department of Community Medicine, BRD Medical College, Gorakhpur
DOI: https://dx.doi.org/10.18535/jmscr/v9i4.18
