Attitude and Trends of Undergraduate Medical Students towards Blood Donations in Services Institute of Medical Sciences, Lahore

Abstract

Objective: To evaluate attitude, trends and willingness towards blood donation and its
associated factors among undergraduate medical students.
Methods: This was a cross-sectional study conducted in Services Institute of Medical Sciences
Lahore from August 2018 to December 2018. A validated questionnaire regarding blood donation
was used for data collection and was administered to all selected medical students. Data were
analyzed using SPSS version 20. Data were represented using Simple frequencies and
percentages, and Pearson Chi-square test was applied to calculate association between different
variables with p value considered as significant when <0.05.
Results: Total of 400 students were interviewed. The mean age of the students was 23 years.
60% of students were female while 40% of students were male. 30% of students were from
preclinical classes and 70% of patients were from clinical classes. 70% of students had positive
attitude toward blood donation, 20% of had neutral and only 10% had negative attitude toward
blood donation. 45% of students had previous history of blood donations while 55% students had
not. 77.7% of students showed willingness for blood donations while 22.5% of students revealed
disinclination for blood donation. Male students and students of clinical classes had more
frequently donated blood and more willing to donate blood with statistically significant difference.
Conclusions: It was concluded that most of medical students had positive attitude toward blood
donation and majority of students were willing to donate blood. However, the students who
donated blood was low, especially in female students.