CONTENTMENT OF PAID PLATELET DONORS WITH TECHNICAL THROMBAPHERESIS

Objective: The increasing need for single-donor platelet concentrates makes it necessary to motivate platelet donors to donate regularly. Th e authors examined the contentment of existing donors in order to crea te a basis for improvements and to raise the attractiveness of donatio n. Design: Open empirical data acquisition. Setting: Institute for Tra nsfusion Medicine at the General Hospital Vienna. Participants: 211 pl atelet donors. Interventions: Interview with a self-developed question naire. Results: Whereas donors rate the work of the staff as being ver y good, they are less content with the surroundings in the pheresis un it. Younger and higher-educated donors as well as persons who have bee n donating for less than 5 years show more negative ratings than compa rable groups. The financial compensation is important to ensure a high donation frequency. Conclusions: The attractiveness of donation could be raised by improving certain aspects of donation. In order to ensur e a high donation frequency donors should be granted a financial compe nsation, as otherwise particularly younger donors, who are more likely to be seronegative for antibodies to CMV, would not donate any more o r at least not that often.