Volume 11, Issue 3, March 2023 International Journal of Innovative Science and Research Technology

ISSN No:-2456-2165

Assessment of Awareness Regarding Blood Donation

among Hospital Support Staff in Selected Hospitals,
Shillong, Meghalaya
Indrani Devi Nath 1, Aibrihun Kharsahnoh2, Hospi Langshiang3, Manasseh Teron4, Neha Sharma5, Misso Sunya6, Hima Das7
1-6
B. Sc. Nursing students, College of Nursing,
7
Tutor/Clinical Instructor, College of Nursing.
North Eastern Indira Gandhi Regional Institute of Health and Medical Science (NEIGRIHMS),
Shillong, Meghalaya, India, Pincode- 793018

Corresponding Author: Indrani Devi Nath

Abstract:- Blood transfusions save lives in various life I. INTRODUCTION

threatening conditions. Safe blood is one of the critical
components in improving health care and in preventing A. Background Of The Study
the spread of infectious diseases globally. In Meghalaya, A single pint of donated blood can save up to three lives;
voluntary donations constitute only one third of all blood however, because of its limited shelf life, there is a need for
donations and majority of blood donations is from constant blood donation1. According to National AIDS
replacement donors. Control Organization, an ideal health care system should
address 100% demand for blood by ensuring uninterrupted
A cross-sectional study was conducted to assess the supply. However, according to current estimates of
awareness regarding blood donation among hospital Meghalaya, only 38.3% of this blood is from voluntary
support staff in selected hospitals, Shillong, Meghalaya blood donation. The gap between clinical demand and
by using self-administered questionnaire among 138 supply is large due to the low volume of voluntary blood
participants using consecutive sampling technique. donation, lack of awareness, irrational demand, poor supply
Findings of the study showed that out of 138 chain management system etc[2,3].
participants, maximum i.e., 98 (71.01%) participants
have average knowledge regarding blood donation and According to a study conducted by Ministry of health
majority i.e., 136(98.60%) had favourable attitude and family welfare and National AIDS Control Organization
towards blood donation. However, only 49(35.51%) out of India in 2018, the quantum of blood to cater to the
of 138 participants had previous history of blood medical needs was estimated at 10.6 million units. This
donation, 89 (64.49%) had no previous history of blood implies that the country needs to collect 10.6 million whole
donation and the reason stated for not donating blood by blood to meet the need for whole blood and components in
maximum participants i.e. 29(32.58%) was “Never the country[4,5]. According to available estimates, 25% of all
approached by anyone to donate blood”. The findings Maternal deaths are due to hemorrhage6. Reports indicate
also revealed that majority of the participants that 70% of the PPH related deaths are due to lack of
i.e.,76(55.10%) had received information regarding immediate availability of blood7. Uncontrolled bleeding
blood donation from “Health professionals”. accounts for more than 468,000 deaths per year8. A study
conducted in a tertiary care hospital, Chitradurga in 2018,
The recommendations of the study is that, a states that even though the hospital workers are aware about
planned awareness program can be conducted for the blood donation, many of them were never voluntary blood
hospital support staff regarding the importance of donors9.
voluntary blood donation where the health professionals
can also approach hospital support staffs to motivate B. Need For The Study
them to donate blood to facilitate the practice of Hospitals are mainly dependent on patient’s relatives to
voluntary blood donation among them to save lives. replace the necessary blood as there are not enough
voluntary blood donations to help the needy patients.
Keywords:- Assessment, Awareness regarding Blood Maximum blood donations in our blood banks is on
Donation, Hospital support staff. replacement basis. The patient’s relatives are now urged to
find eligible blood donors to replace the blood used for the
patients, which will not be always available.

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Volume 11, Issue 3, March 2023 International Journal of Innovative Science and Research Technology
ISSN No:-2456-2165
Eligible health care support staff can be a very reliable was conducted among Hospital Support Staff at
and accessible source of quality blood if they are motivated NEIGRIHMS, Shillong, Meghalaya.
and are willing to be voluntary blood donors. In case of
emergencies, blood donated by these Support staff can save D. STUDY POPULATION:
lives and regular donation of blood by them can increase the The population comprised of Hospital Support Staff
availability of blood. These staff could also inculcate the working in Civil hospital, Shillong and North Eastern Indira
messages of blood donation to other staffs they meet in their Gandhi Regional Institute of Health and Medical Sciences,
routine work and recruit more donors to increase the total Shillong.
blood collection.
E. SAMPLE SIZE:
Thus, this study is primarily designed to assess the The sample size calculation for the pilot study was 38
awareness regarding blood donation among hospital support and for the final study was 138.
staffs. Though studies regarding blood donation awareness
is conducted at international and national level among F. SAMPLE TECHNIQUE:
medical professionals, studies are limited among hospital In our study, sampling technique used is consecutive
support staff. This study will provide information about sampling technique.
awareness level regarding blood donation among the G. DATA COLLECTION PROCEDURE:
hospital support staff which may be helpful in planning need The final data collection was done from 23rd May to 3rd
based awareness program. June 2022. Permission was obtained from the Directorate of
C. Objectives of the Study health services, Meghalaya and the Medical Superintendent,
NEIGRIHIMS, Shillong, Meghalaya. After obtaining
 Primary objective: permission, the study was conducted. Prior to the data
 To assess the knowledge regarding blood donation collection, informed consent was taken from the participants
among Hospital Support Staff in selected hospitals, to explain the procedure and the purpose of the study, which
Shillong, Meghalaya. also stated the confidentiality and anonymity of the results.
 To assess the attitude regarding blood donation among Thereafter, the participants were allowed to proceed with the
Hospital Support Staff in selected hospitals, Shillong, self-administered questionnaire and the participants took
Meghalaya. approximately 10-15 minutes to complete it.

 Secondary objective: H. SCORING OF THE TOOL:

 To find out the association of knowledge with selected  SECTION I: It consists of socio-demographic
socio-demographic variables regarding blood donation characteristics and was not scored.
among Hospital Support Staff in selected hospitals,  SECTION II: It consists of 20 knowledge based
Shillong, Meghalaya. questionnaire to assess the level of awareness regarding
blood donation, in such a way that for each correct
D. Operational Definition response 1 mark is given. There is no negative marking
 Assessment: It refers to the evaluation and estimation of given for a negative response. The maximum score is 20
the knowledge and attitude of hospital support staff and the minimum score is 0.
regarding blood donation.  SECTION III: It consists of 10 attitude based statement
 Awareness regarding blood donation: It refers to on a five-point Likert scale. The maximum score is 50
general understanding of hospital support staff on blood and the minimum score is 10.
donation.
 Hospital support staff: For this study, hospital support I. INTERPRETATION OF SCORE:
staff refers to technicians, technical assistants, OT Knowledge score was categorized into three categories:
assistants, security personals and ward attendants in
CATEGORY Range of score Percentage
selected hospitals.
Good knowledge ≥16 ≥ 76%
II. METHODOLOGY Average knowledge 10-15 50 % - 75 %
Poor knowledge ≤9 ≤49%
A. RESEARCH APPROACH:
In this study, a quantitative research approach was Attitude score was categorized into two categories:
finalized to assess the awareness regarding blood donation
among hospital support staff. CATEGORY Range of score
Favorable Attitude >30
B. RESEARCH DESIGN: Unfavorable Attitude ≤30
In our study, the research design used is non-
experimental cross-sectional study design.

C. STUDY SETTINGS:
The pilot study was conducted among Hospital Support
Staff at Civil hospital, Shillong, Meghalaya. The final study

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Volume 11, Issue 3, March 2023 International Journal of Innovative Science and Research Technology
ISSN No:-2456-2165
III. ANALYSIS, INTERPRETATION AND Data are presented under the following headings:
DISCUSSION  Section 1: Findings related to the socio-demographic
data of the participants.
The data collected from the participants were analyzed  Section 2: Findings related to the awareness of the
by using descriptive statistics (frequency, statistics) and participants regarding blood donation.
inferential statistics (Fisher’s exact test). The data are  Section 3: Findings related to association of awareness
presented in the form of tables and bar diagram as illustrated regarding blood donation with selected socio-
below. demographic variables of the participants.
A. ORGANIZATION OF THE FINDINGS:

 SECTION 1: FINDINGS RELATED TO THE SOCIO-DEMOGRAPHIC DATA OF THE PARTICIPANTS

N=138
80 73 (52.86%)
Number of participants

70 19- 32
60 53 (38.40%) 33- 46
50
47-60
40
30
20 12 (8.64%)
10
0
19- 32 33- 46 47-60
Age (in years)

Fig. 1: Bar graph showing the distribution of the participants according to age.

The data represented in figure 1 shows that out of 138 participants, maximum participants i.e., 73 (52.86%) participants
belong to the age group of 19-32 and minimum i.e., 12 (8.64%) participants belong to the age group of 47-60.

N=138
90 83(60.14%)
80
Number of participants

70
60 55(39.86%)
50
40 Male
30 Female
20
10
0
Male Female
Gender

Fig. 2: Bar graph showing the distribution of the participants according to gender

The data represented in figure 2 shows that out of 138 participants, maximum participants i.e., 83 (60.14%) participants are
male and 55 (39.86%) are female.

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Volume 11, Issue 3, March 2023 International Journal of Innovative Science and Research Technology
ISSN No:-2456-2165

N=138
50
45(32.6%) Ward attendants
45
Security personnel
40 Technicians
37(26.8%)
35 Technical assistants
Number of participants

30(21.7%) OT assistants
30

25

20
15(10.8%)
15
11(7.9%)
10

0
Ward Security Technicians Technical OT assistants
attendants personnel assistants
Occupation

Fig. 3: Bar graph showing the distribution of the participants according to occupation

The data represented in figure 3 shows that out of 138 participants, maximum i.e., 45 (32.6%) participants are ward
attendants, and minimum i.e.,11 participants (7.9%) are OT assistants.

N=138
Ethnicity Frequency (f) Percentage (%)
Khasi 115 83.3 %
Assamese 9 6.5 %
Bengali 4 2.9 %
Mizo 3 2.2 %
Bihari 3 2.2 %
Keralites 2 1.5 %
Manipuri 1 0.7 %
Rajasthani 1 0.7 %
Table 1: Frequency and percentage distribution of the participants according to ethnicity

The data represented in table 1 shows that out of 138 participants, majority i.e., 115 (83.3%) participants are Khasi and
minimum i.e., 1 (0.7%) participant is manipuri and 1(0.7%) participant is Rajasthani.

n=89

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Volume 11, Issue 3, March 2023 International Journal of Innovative Science and Research Technology
ISSN No:-2456-2165

100 N=138
89 (64.5%)
90 No
Number of participants 80 Yes
70
60
49 (35.5%)
50
40
30
20
10
0
No Yes
Previous history of blood donation

Fig. 4: Bar diagram showing distribution of the participants according to previous history of blood donation

The data represented in figure 4 shows that out of 138 previous history of blood donation and 49 (35.5%) have
participants, majority89 (64.5%) participants have no donated blood before.

Reason Frequency (f) Percentage (%)

Never approached by anyone to donate blood 29 32.58%
Due to health related reasons 24 26.97%
Never had the time or opportunity to donate blood 16 17.98%
Underweight 15 16.85%
Do not know the place to donate 5 5.62%
Table 2: Frequency and percentage distribution of the participants according to reason for not donating blood

The data represented in Table 2 shows that out of 89 approached by anyone to donate blood and minimum i.e.,
participants who had no previous history of blood donation, 5(5.62%) participants did not know the place to donate
maximum i.e., 29 (32.58%) participants were never blood.

N=138
Source of information Frequency (f) Percentage (%)
Health Professionals 76 55.1%
Friends and family 43 31.2%
Internet 12 8.7%
Television 6 4.3%
Newspaper 1 0.7%
Table 3: Frequency and percentage distribution of the participants according to their source of information regarding blood
donation

The data represented in Table 3 shows that out of 138 minimum i.e. 1(0.7%) participants have received the
participants, maximum i.e. 76(55.1%) participants have information regarding blood donation from newspaper.
received information from health professionals and

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Volume 11, Issue 3, March 2023 International Journal of Innovative Science and Research Technology
ISSN No:-2456-2165
 SECTION 2: FINDINGS RELATED TO THE AWARENESS OF THE PARTICIPANTS REGARDING BLOOD
DONATION.

N=138
120
98 (71.01%)
100
80
Number of participants

60 Good
40 25 (18.12%) Average
20 15 (10.87%) Poor
0
Good Average Poor
Level of knowledge
Fig. 5: Bar diagram showing distribution of the participants according to their level of knowledge regarding blood donation

The data represented in figure 5 shows that out of 138 participants have good knowledge and minimum i.e., 15
participants, maximum i.e., 98 (71.01%) participants have (10.87%) participants have poor knowledge regarding blood
average knowledge regarding blood donation, 25 (18.12%) donation.

N=138
160
Number of participants

136(98.6%)
140
120
100
80
Favorable
60
Unfavorable
40
20 2(1.4%)
0
Favorable Unfavorable
Attitude

Fig. 6: Bar diagram showing distribution of the participants according to their type of attitude regarding blood donation

The data represented in figure 6 shows that out of (1.4%) participants have unfavourable attitude towards
138participants, maximum i.e., 136 (98.6%) participants blood donation.
have favourable attitude towards blood donation and only 2

N=138
Variable Mean SD
Knowledge 12.84 2.76
Table 4: Mean and standard deviation of knowledge score of participants regarding blood donation

Maximum possible score: 20

Data in Table 4 shows that mean awareness score is 15 which signifies that majority of the subjects were having
12.84 which is more than 50% of maximum possible score average knowledge regarding blood donation.
i.e., 10 and less than 75% of maximum possible score i.e.,

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Volume 11, Issue 3, March 2023 International Journal of Innovative Science and Research Technology
ISSN No:-2456-2165
 SECTION 3: FINDINGS RELATED TO ASSOCIATION OF AWARENESS REGARDING BLOOD DONATION
WITH SELECTED SOCIO-DEMOGRAPHIC VARIABLES OF THE PARTICIPANTS.

N=138
Demographic v Awareness Score Fisher’s exact tes P value/ exact s Tabulated
ariables t value ignificance value
Gender Good Average Poor

Male 12 64 7

Female 13 34 8 3.76 0.152 1.36

Table 5: Association of knowledge regarding blood donation with the gender of the participants

* p-value< 0.05

The data in Table 5 shows that the calculated value not significantly associated with gender. Therefore, the
i.e.,3.76 is more than the tabulated value i.e., 1.36. researcher concludes that awareness of the participants
Moreover, the exact significance is 0.152 which is greater regarding blood donation among Hospital Support Staff is
than p-value (<0.05). So, knowledge of the participants is not dependent on gender of the participants.

N=138
Demographic variables Awareness Score Fisher’s exact t P value/ exact s Tabulated v
est value ignificance alue

Previous history of Good Average Poor

blood donation

Yes
12 35 7
No
13 63 8 4.93 0.085 2.10
Table 6: Association of knowledge regarding blood donation with the previous history of blood donation of the participants

* p-value< 0.05

The data in Table 6 shows that the calculated value V. CONCLUSION

i.e.,4.93 is more than the tabulated value i.e., 2.10.
Moreover, the exact significance is 0.085 which is greater Findings of the study revealed that majority of the
than p-value (<0.05). So, knowledge of the participants is hospital support staff have average knowledge and
not significantly associated with previous history of blood favourable attitude towards blood donation. The most
donation. Therefore, the researcher concludes that common reason for not donating blood was “Never
awareness of the participants regarding blood donation approached by anyone”. In addition, “Health professionals”
among Hospital Support Staff is not dependent on previous was the major source of information regarding blood
history of blood donation. donation.

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