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Deterrents in recruitment of COVID‐19 convalescent plasma donors: Experience from a hospital‐based blood centre in India
Author(s) -
Dhiman Yashaswi,
Coshic Poonam,
Pandey Hem Chandra,
Khatiwada Basanta,
Singh Jasmeet,
Mehta Vikas,
Gupta Sanjay
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
transfusion medicine
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.471
H-Index - 59
eISSN - 1365-3148
pISSN - 0958-7578
DOI - 10.1111/tme.12768
Subject(s) - medicine , donation , blood donor , blood collection , covid-19 , convalescent plasma , apheresis , deferral , pandemic , family medicine , gynecology , emergency medicine , immunology , disease , infectious disease (medical specialty) , platelet , business , accounting , economics , economic growth
Recruitment of Covid‐19 convalescent plasma (CCP) donors may present as a challenge due to inexperience and differences in donor profile as compared to whole blood donation. Present study highlights the deterrents to recruiting CCP donors at a hospital based blood centre. Materials and methods Potential CCP donors were contacted individually by telephone and a group approach through camp organisers from May to July 2020. Recruitment challenges were noted and deferrals of these recruited donors during screening and medical examination was obtained and analysed. Results Total 1165 potential CCP donors were contacted. Around 47% donors were lost due to challenges related to information storage and retrieval. Fear of health, family pressure, and fear of a new procedure were major reason (27.2%) for unwillingness to donate. The main reasons for deferral among potential donors were multiparity (38%) and being overage/underage (31.6%). Finally, 468 donors were recruited including 408 by individual approach and 60 by a group approach. From these absence of detectable COVID‐19 antibodies were found in 15.4%. Few donors (9.0%) were deferred as they had not completed 28 days post recovery. Conclusion The process of CCP donor recruitment differs from that of whole blood donation and requires an individualised approach with involvement of clinicians in the initial phases of the pandemic. A group approach targeting specific organisations could be adopted for a successful CCP collection program. There is a need to relook into some aspects of donor selection such as consideration of multiparous female donors and overage/underage donors after reviewing scientific evidence.