ABSTRACT

The need for blood is an important concern for the society as a whole. Volunteer blood donors are the most important factor of safety blood donation. The rate of voluntary blood donation reaches 5% in developed countries, whereas in Turkey, this rate is just slightly over 1%. The aim of this study was to evaluate the knowledge, behaviour and attitude of doctors working in various departments of our hospital toward blood donation. A questionnaire with 20 questions was filled out by 100 doctors. Forty-five per cent of participants donated blood at least one time before, whereas 55% of them had never seriously considered becoming donor. Eighty-four per cent of nondonors were between 25-35 years old and 62% of them were female in this study. The half of nondonors wanted to donate only to their relatives in emergency situations. Surprisingly, seven refrained from blood donating due to the fear of catching an infectious disease during it. At the end of the survey, 33 of 55 nondonors were registered to donate blood.

People in Turkey have not been correctly informed on blood donation through effective and common campaigns. Therefore, constant education on this issue is the most important and effective way of increasing blood donation rates in our country.