Bruising following blood donation, its management and the response and subsequent return rates of affected donors

A study was undertaken to determine the incidence of bruising among blood d onors and to analyse their response to the management of this complication. A total of 52 510 donors were bled at 476 consecutive donor sessions held by the Brentwood Centre during a 4-month period. Of these, 344 donors (0.66 %) were found to have developed bruises following venepuncture. The inciden ce of bruising among males was 0.35% and that among females was 0.98%. All bruised donors were managed by the Centre nursing and medical staff. On e hundred and sixty-one donors informed the Centre that they were fully sat isfied with the way their bruising was managed. Of 329 bruised donors who r emained in the panel, 249 (75.7%) attended subsequent blood donor sessions in response to routine invitations, showing that the majority of bruised do nors continued to donate blood. This response was compared with that of a c ontrol group of donors who did not develop any complications and there was no significant difference in the return rates between the two groups.