Melissa King

Convenience, the bane of our existence, and other barriers to donating

BACKGROUND:  To prevent donor loss and improve retention, it is important to understand the major deterrents to blood donation and to identify factors that can be effectively addressed by blood centers.

Opinions about donating blood among those who never gave and those who stopped: a focus group assessment

BACKGROUND: Understanding what prevents people from ever donating blood, or having donated, what influenced them to stop, are both equally important in devising recruitment strategies. Enlisting new donors and encouraging previous donors to return are vital to increasing collections.

Factors influencing the decision to donate : racial and ethnic comparisons

BACKGROUND:  Understanding factors that encourage different racial and ethnic groups to donate is crucial for donor recruitment and retention.

Determinants of return behavior: a comparison of current and lapsed donors

BACKGROUND: There is a need to identify factors explaining why some people stop donating blood.

Staff attitudes about event reporting and patient safety culture in hospital transfusion services

BACKGROUND: Little is known about how transfusion service staff view issues pertaining to event reporting and patient safety. The goal of this study was to assess transfusion service staff attitudes about these issues.

Analysis of Chinese donors' return behavior

BACKGROUND: It is important to understand donor return behavior. Converting first‐time donors to become repeat donors is essential for maintaining an adequate blood supply.

Hepatitis B virus nucleic acid testing in Chinese blood donors with normal and elevated alanine aminotransferase

BACKGROUND: Nucleic acid testing (NAT) is currently not a routine donor test in China. The aim of this study was to evaluate the current residual risk of hepatitis B virus (HBV) transmission and the value of ALT testing in preventing HBV infection.

Impact of the May 12, 2008, earthquake on blood donations across five Chinese blood centers

BACKGROUND: On May 12, 2008, a severe earthquake struck Chinas Sichuan Province. The nationwide outpouring of charity resulted in a surge of subsequent blood donations. The quantity and quality of these donations were examined in comparison with routine donations.

Qualitative assessment of pica experienced by frequent blood donors

Pica, the compulsive consumption of ice or other nonnutritious substances, is associated with iron deficiency, a common negative consequence of frequent blood donation. Because of this, blood donors, such as those participating in the Strategies to Reduce Iron Deficiency (STRIDE) study, are an ideal population to explore pica and iron deficiency.

Contribution of the Retrovirus Epidemiology Donor Study (REDS) to research on blood transfusion safety in Brazil

The Retrovirus Epidemiology Donor Study (REDS) program was established in the United States in 1989 with the purpose of increasing blood transfusion safety in the context of the HIV/AIDS and human T-lymphotropic virus epidemics. REDS and its successor, REDS-II were at irst conducted in the US, then expanded in 2006 to include international partnerships with Brazil and China. In 2011, a third wave of REDS renamed the Recipient Epidemiology and Donor Evaluation Study-III (REDS-III) was launched. This seven-year research program focuses on both blood banking and transfusion medicine research in the United States of America, Brazil, China, and South Africa. The main goal of the international programs is to reduce and prevent the transmission of HIV/AIDS and other known and emerging infectious agents through transfusion, and to address research questions aimed at understanding global issues related to the availability of safe blood. This article describes the contribution of REDS-II to transfusion safety in Brazil. Articles published from 2010 to Documento descargado de http://rbhh.elsevier.es el 31/03/2017. Copia para uso personal, se prohíbe la transmisión de este documento por cualquier medio o formato.The Retrovirus Epidemiology Donor Study (REDS) program was established in the United States in 1989 with the purpose of increasing blood transfusion safety in the context of the HIV/AIDS and human T-lymphotropic virus epidemics. REDS and its successor, REDS-II were at first conducted in the US, then expanded in 2006 to include international partnerships with Brazil and China. In 2011, a third wave of REDS renamed the Recipient Epidemiology and Donor Evaluation Study-III (REDS-III) was launched. This seven-year research program focuses on both blood banking and transfusion medicine research in the United States of America, Brazil, China, and South Africa. The main goal of the international programs is to reduce and prevent the transmission of HIV/AIDS and other known and emerging infectious agents through transfusion, and to address research questions aimed at understanding global issues related to the availability of safe blood. This article describes the contribution of REDS-II to transfusion safety in Brazil. Articles published from 2010 to 2013 are summarized, including database analyses to characterize blood donors, deferral rates, and prevalence, incidence and residual risk of the main blood-borne infections. Specific studies were developed to understand donor motivation, the impact of the deferral questions, risk factors and molecular surveillance among HIV-positive donors, and the natural history of Chagas disease. The purpose of this review is to disseminate the acquired knowledge and briefly summarize the findings of the REDS-II studies conducted in Brazil as well as to introduce the scope of the REDS-III program that is now in progress and will continue through 2018.