Motivation of students' population blood donors at the University of Belgrade: Faculty of Pharmacy

Abstract

Introduction: Insufficient blood donation is almost generally recognized as a world-wide problem being followed by a trend in an ever decreasing number of collected blood units. Aims: (i) Analysis of voluntary blood donation (VBD) trends among the student population at the University of Belgrade - Faculty of Pharmacy (FP), and the following types of activities: (ii) analysis of students' information on VBD as well as the employees' motivation of FP regarding VBD and (iii) the definition of recommendations for improving VBD drives among student population. Method: A retrospective study (2003-2012) using data of the Public Health Section (FP Students1 Organisation), and the database of the Blood Transfusion Institute of Serbia referring to FP students VBD was made. A prospective cross section study was conducted including students and staff of the FP during 2011/12, using customized questionnaire, while the intervention study was conducted using freshmen student population in the course of 2009-2011, during the practical training of one of the compulsory subjects. Results: Total number of potential VBD among FP students was 1133 over ten years period and the majority of them (82,6%) were blood donors. The analysis of the structure of potential VBD students by gender shows that women are more represented as VBD. It was found that almost all of the respondents from the staff (97.9%) supported the activities related with VBD at FP, and 1/3 students VBD (33.9%) were informed on the activities by promotional posters in the lobby of the Faculty. Conclusion: Promotional activities, information and education of FP students on the importance of VBD, promotion of the healthy lifestyles, health improvement and increasing the awareness about VBD as a highly moral and human act resulted in a higher motivation and recruitment of more students VBD, volunteers and students who donated blood for the first time.

Uvod: Problem nedovoljne količine krvi zastupljen je gotovo svuda u svetu, i praćen je negativnim trendom sve manjeg broja prikupljenih jedinica krvi. Ciljevi: (1) analiza trenda dobrovoljnog davanja krvi (ddk) među studentskom populacijom na Farmaceutskom fakultetu (FF) Univerziteta u Beogradu, prateći vrste i broj aktivnosti; (2) analiza informisanosti studenata dobrovoljnih davalaca krvi (DDK) i motivisanosti zaposlenih na FF u vezi sa ddk i (3) definisanje preporuka za poboljšanje akcija ddk među studentskom populacijom. Metode: Sprovedena je retrospektivna studija (2003-2012), uzeti su podaci Sekcije za javno zdravlje (Studentske organizacije FF), na osnovu podataka Instituta za transfuziju krvi Srbije, u vezi sa DDK na FF. Prospektivna studija preseka urađena je sa studentima DDK i zaposlenima tokom 2011/12. sa namenski kreiranim upitnicima, a studija intervencije urađena je na studentskoj populaciji brucoša tokom 2009-2011. god. na praktičnoj nastavi jednog obaveznog predmeta. Rezultati: Ukupan broj potencijalnih studenata DDK na FF tokom desetogodišnjeg perioda iznosio je 1.133 studenta dominanto žena, od čega je krv dala velika većina 82,6%. Gotovo svi iz redova zaposlenih (97,9%) podržavaju akciju ddk na FF, a trećina studenata DDK (33,9%) informiše se o akcijama preko plakata u holu Fakulteta. Zaključak: Promotivne aktivnosti, informisanost i edukacija studenata FF o značaju ddk radi promocije zdravog stila života, poboljšanja zdravlja i razvoja svesti o ddk kao visoko moralnom i humanom činu, imale su kao ishod povećanje motivacije i porast broja studenata DDK, volontera i onih koji su krv donirali prvi put na FF.